
J 



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[^, Tlu.iiuii'. |io.xU:m-. lor a .suil of L'luHif;; . 



1 6 3 f _) . 
I.uhoqraphrt! JiTtlif- History cfj.ynn- 



THE 



HISTORY OF LYNN, 



INCLUDING 



N A H A N T. 



BY ALONZO LEWIS, -THE LYNN BARD, 



These hills, where once the Indian dwelt, 
These plains, o'er which the red deer ran, 
These shores, where oft our fathers knelt, 
And wild doves built, unscared by man, 
I love them well — for they, to me, 
Are as some pleasant memory. 



Seconli HDftfon. 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY SAMUEL N. DICKINSON. 

1844. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, 

By Alonzo Lewis, 

in tlie Clerk's Office ot" llie District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



" / 



No local history has been published in America, which has been more highly 
praised by the public journals, or more eagerly read, than the History of Lynn in 
the first edition. It was one great means of inducing that taste for historical read- 
ing, which has eventuated in the production of so many town histories, and other 
works of a more extensive nature. A few extracts from these notices are here 
given. 

History of Tjijnn. We have just risen from the perusal of a work under this title, 
from the press of Mr. John H. Eastburn. The author is Mr. Alonzo Lewis, who 
compiled and published the very handsome Map of Lynn and Nahant, we not long 
since had occasion to notice. He is a gentleman of enviable talents, uniting the 
rarely combined qualities of a brilliant fancy with a love of philosophical inquiry 
and deep research. Traveller. 

Mr. Lewis is favorably known as a poet of chaste and delicate fancy, and his re- 
marks in the pages before us show an alertness to the beautiful highly creditable to 
him as a writer. Statesman. 

The writer has not confined himself to the dry details of his subject, but has 
favored us with glimpses of the domestic and literary occupations of our ancestors. 
These town histories will be of great service to the future historian, who will look 
to them as the principal sources from which his information is to be derived. 

Advertiser. 

The Introduction is one of the most felicitous and best written productions which 
I have ever seen annexed to any work of the kind. My love and esteem for the 
author of such sentiments have been much increased since I read it, which has 
been more than once. The History is all that could be expected or even desired. 

John Farmer. 

The author, Alonzo Lewis, Esq., has given a mass of interesting facts and occur- 
rences of olden time, furnishing a curious compendium, not only to antiquaries and 
the immediate descendants of the first settlers of that place, but to readers of every 
class and section of tlie country. Traveller's Guide. 

As a prose writer, Mr. Lewis is conspicuously eminent ; and were he more volu- 
minous, he might be styled with justice, the C^outhey of America. Hartford Pearl. 

We trust that every town of the old settlements will soon have its historian, like 
the accomplished Lewis of Lynn. J<iew York Star, 



INTRODUCTION. 



2rt)fs toill ht manifest tot)ile proplc libc, 

Sljc number of tfjciv Desccntiants toill baluc (t. 



TUK VOLUSPA, A KC:riC POEM. 



T^^A''^£fi/' '^ t^^6 ^^"^6 when I began to collect the facts 

of which the following pages are composed, 

^L. very little was knoAvn of the early history 

of Lynn. It had not even been ascertained 

^■■'-i4>M^'^^M^ in what year the town was settled — the 

^^S^^^^^S"*" records for the first sixty-two years were 

wholly wanting — and the names of the early settlers were 

unknown. 

It has been said, that the town records were burnt about the 
year 1G90 ; but that they were in existence long after that pe- 
riod, is evident from an order respecting them, on the seventh 
of March, 1715, when the inhabitants voted; 'that whereas 
some of the old town records are much shattered, therefore so 
much shall be transcribed out of one or more of them, into an- 
other book, as the selectmen shall think best and the select- 
men having perused two of the old town books, and find that 
the second book is most shattered, and that the oldest book may 
be kept fare to reed severall years, think it best and order, that 
soe much shall be transcribed.' A few pages were thus copied, 
and the books were afterward destroyed or lost. In my re- 
seai'ches, I found several volumes of the old records of births, 



b INTRODUCTION. 

marriages, and deaths, commencing in 1675, in a very ruinous 
condition, and caused them to be bound and furnished with an 
index. The earhest record of the proceedings of the town, now 
in existence, commences in the year 1691 ; and the earhest 
parish record, in 1722. 

I have examined every attainable source of information, to 
supply the deficiencies of the lost records. I have discovered 
numerous ancient manuscripts ; and among them, a copy of 
three pages of the old town records for 1638, and several in 
subsequent years, which providentially happened to be the 
pages most wanted ; I have also found a journal, kept daily for 
forty-four years, by Mr. Zaccheus Collins ; and another, for twen- 
ty years, by Mr. Richard Pratt ; in which they appear to have 
noticed every thing remarkable during those long periods, and 
from which I have extracted many interesting particulars. I 
have transcribed from the records of state and county, as well 
as from those of town and parish ; and from numerous files of 
unpublished papers. Indeed I have spared neither labor nor 
expense to make this history complete. Not only have numer- 
ous volumes concerning early discoveries and settlements in 
America been consulted, but the manuscript records of parishes 
in Great Britain, and other European nations, have been ex- 
plored. It would have been quite as easy, in most instances, 
to have conveyed the ideas in my own words; but as I was 
delighted with the quaintness and simplicity of the original lan- 
guage, I thought that perhaps others might be equally pleased. 
Moreover, I like to hear people tell their own stories. Some 
historians have strangely distorted facts by changing the lan- 
guage. 

The records and files of our State government furnish much 
information respecting our early history ; but as they existed 
when I began my researches, a vast amount of patience was 
requisite to obtain it. Those papers were then tied up in hun- 
dreds of small bundles, and many of them bore the impress of 
the mob by whom they were trampled, in 1765. At my sugges- 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

tion, they have been arranged in volumes and furnished with 
an index ; so that future historians will be spared much labor to 
which I was subjected. The papers in other public otfices, and 
particularly those of the Essex Court, at Salem, merit a similar 
attention. People yet have too little veneration for their ances- 
tors, and too little love for their country, or it would have been 
done long ago. The Massachusetts Historical Society, at Bos- 
ton, merit unbounded gratitude, for the care with which they 
have preserved rare historical books and valuable manuscripts. 

I have given the names of more than three hundred of the 
early settlers, with short sketches of the lives of many. I 
have also collected the names of many Indians and their Saga- 
mores, the fragments of whose history have become so inter- 
esting. This is the first attempt, in any town, to collect the 
names of all the early settlers, with those of the Indians who 
were cotemporary with them. I trust that no person who is an 
inhabitant of Lynn, or interested in the details of antiquity, will 
think that I have been too particular. A proper attention to 
dates and minuteness of circumstance, constitutes the charm of 
history, and the actions and manners of men can never cease to 
be interesting. 

There is something so natural in inquiring into the history of 
those who have lived before us, and particularly of those with 
whom we have any connection, either by the ties of relation or 
place, that it is surprising any one should be found by whom 
the subject is regarded ^vith indifference. In a government like 
ours, where every man is required to take part in the man- 
agement of public affairs, an acquaintance with the past is 
indispensable to an intelligent discharge of his duties. The 
knowledge of history was considered so important by the Mon- 
arch Bard of Israel, that he commenced a song of praise for its 
enjoyment; and the relation in which we are placed cannot 
render it less important and interesting to us. To trace the set- 
tlement and progress of our native town — to read the history 
of the play-place of our early hours, and which has been the 



8 I N T K O D U C T I O \ . 

scene of our maturer joys — to follow the steps of our fathers 
through the course of centuries, and mark the gradation of im- 
provement — to learn who and what they were from whom we 
are descended — and still further, to be informed of the people 
who were here before them, and who are now vanished like a 
dream of childhood — and all these in their connection with the 
histoiy of the world and of man — must certainly be objects of 
peculiar interest to every inquisitive mind. And though, in the 
pursuit of these objects, we meet with much that calls forth the 
tear of sympathy and the expression of regret, we yet derive a 
high degree of pleasure from being enabled to sit with our 
fathers in the shade of the oaks and pines of ' olden time,' and 
hear them relate the stories of days which have gone by. One 
of the most useful faculties of the mind is the memory ; and 
history enables us to treasure up the memories of those who 
have lived before us. What would not any curious mind give 
to have a complete knowledge of the Indian race ? — And what 
a painful want should we suffer, were the history of our fathers 
a blank, and we could know no more of them than of the abo- 
rigines I Our existence might indeed be regarded as incomplete, 
if we could not command the record of past time, as well as 
enjoy the present, and hope for the happiness of the future I 
Reality must ever possess a stronger power over the minds of 
reasonable and reflecting men, than imagination ; and though 
fiction frequently asserts, and sometimes acquires the ascend- 
ancy, it is generally when she appears dressed in the habiliments 
of probability and historical truth. 

Among the pleasures of the mind, there are few which afford 
more unalloyed gratification, than that which arises from the 
remembrance of the loved and familiar objects of home, com- 
bined with the memory of the innocent delights of our child- 
hood. This is one of the few pleasures of which the heart 
cannot be deprived — which the darkest shades of misfortune 
serve to bring out into fuller relief — and which the uninter- 
rupted passage of the current of time tends only to polish and 



I 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

to brighten. When wearied with the tumult of the world, and 
sick of the anxieties and sorrows of life, the thoughts may re- 
turn with delight to the pleasures of childhood, and banquet 
unsated on the recollections of youth. Who does not remem- 
ber the companions of his early years — and the mother who 
watched over his dangers — and the father who counselled him 

— and the teacher who instructed him — and the sister whose 
sweet voice reproved hiswildness? Who does not remember 
the tree under which he played — and the house in which he 
lived — and even the moonbeam that slept upon his bed I Who 
has not returned, in sunlight and in sleep, to the scenes of his 
earliest and purest joys ; and to the green and humble mounds 
where his sorrows have gone forth over the loved and the lost 
who were dear to his soul ! And who does not love to indulge 
these remembrances, though they bring swelling tides to his 
heart, and tears to his eyes ? And whose ideas are so limited, 
that he does not extend his thoughts to the days and the dAvell- 
ings of his ancestors; until he seems to become a portion of the 
mountain and the stream, and to prolong his existence thrpugh 
the centuries which are passed I O, the love of Home I — it 
was implanted in the breast of n»an as a germ of hope, that 
should grow up into a fragrant flower, to win his heart from the 
ambitions and the vanities of his life, and woo him back to the 
innocent delights of his morning hours I Sweet Spirit of Home I 

— thou Guardian Angel of the Good — thou earliest, kindest, 
latest friend of man I how numerous are thy votaries I how 
many are tlie hearts that bow before thy sway I What tears of 
sorrow hast thou dried I — what tears of recollection, of antici- 
pation, of enjoyment, hast thou caused to flow! To all bosoms 
thou art grateful — to all climes congenial. No heart, that is 
innocent, but has a temple for thee! — no mind, however de- 
praved, but acknowledges the power which presides over thy 
shrine ! 

The advancement of the American colonies has been unpar- 
alleled in the annals of the world. Two hundred years have 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

scarcely circled their luminous jflight over this now cultivated 
region, since the most populous towns of New England were a 
wilderness I No sound was heard in the morning but the voice 
of the Indian, and the notes of the wild birds, as they woke 
their early hymn to their Creator ; and at evening, no praise 
went up to heaven, but the desolate howl of the wolf, and the 
sweet but mournful song of the muckawis.* The wild powah t 
of the savage sometimes broke into the silence of nature, like 
the wailing for the dead ; but the prayer of the Christian was 
never heard to ascend from the melancholy waste. The moun- 
tains, that lifted their sunny tops above the clouds, and the 
rivers, which for thousands of miles rolled their murmuring 
waters through the deserts, were unbeheld by an eye which 
could perceive the true majesty of God, or a heart that could 
frame language to his praise. At length the emigrants from 
England arrived, and the western shore of the Atlantic began to 
hear the more cheerful voices of civilization and refinement. 
Pleasant villages were seen in the midst of the wide wilderness ; 
and houses for the worship of God, and schools for the instruc- 
tion of children arose, where the wild beast had his lair. The 
men of those days were compelled to endure privations, and to 
overcome difficulties, which exist to us only on the page of his- 
tory. In passing through the forest, if they turned from the 
bear, it was to meet the wolf; and if they fled from the wolf, it 
was to encounter the deadly spring of the insidious catamount. 
At some periods, the planter could not travel from one settle- 
ment to another, without the dread of being shot by the silent 
arrow of the unseen Indian ; nor could his children pursue their 
sports in the shady woods, or gather berries in the green fields, 
without danger of treading on the coiled rattlesnake, or being 

* The Indian name of the whip-poor-will. The sounds which strike the ear of 
one familiar with the English language like the words ivhip-poor-will, fell on the 
tympanum of an Indian like the syllables which compose the word muck-a-wis. 

t Powah was the designation of a priest of the red men ; and their meetings for 
the exercise of their rude worship were also denominated powahs. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

carried away by the remorseless enemy. The Httle hamlets, 
and the lonely dwellings, which rose, at long intervals, over the 
plains and among the forests, were frequently alarmed by the 
howl of the wolf and the yell of the savage ; and often were 
their thresholds drenched in the blood of the beautiful and the 
innocent ! The dangers of those days have passed away, M'ith 
the men who sustained them, and we enjoy the fruit of their 
industry and peril ; they have toiled, and fought, and bled for 
our repose. Scarcely a spot of New England can be found, 
which has not been fertilized by the sweat or the blood of our 
ancestors. How grateful should we be to that good Being who 
has bestowed on us the reward of their enterprise I 

The day on which the Mayflower landed her passengers on 
the Rock of Plymouth, was a fatal one for the aborigines of 
America. From that day, the towns of New England began to 
spring up among their wigwams, and along their hunting- 
grounds; and though sickness, and want, and the tomahawk 
made frequent and fearful incursions on the little bands of the 
planters, yet their numbers continued to increase, till they have 
become a great and powerful community. It is indeed a pleas- 
ing and interesting employment, to trace the progress of the 
primitive colonies — for each town was in itself a little colony, 
a miniature republic, and the history of one is almost the his- 
tory of all — to behold them contending with the storms and 
inclemencies of an unfriendly climate, and with the repeated 
depredations of a hostile and uncivilized people, till we find 
them emerging into a state of political prosperity, unsurpassed 
by any nation of the earth. But it is painful to reflect, that in 
the accomplishment of this great purpose, the nations of the 
wilderness, who constituted a separate race, have been nearly 
destroyed. At more than one period, the white people seem to 
have been in danger of extermination by the warlike and exas- 
perated Indians; but in a few years, the independent Sassacus, 
and the noble Miantonimo, and the princely Pometacom, saw 
their once populous and powerful nations gradually wasting 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

away and disappearing. In vain did they sharpen their toma- 
hawks, and point their arrows anew for the breasts of the white 
men I — in vain did the vaHant Wampanoag despatch his trusty 
warriors two hundred miles across the forest, to invite the Ta- 
ratines to lend their aid in exterminating the English ! The 
days of their prosperity had passed away. The time had come 
when a great people were to be driven from the place of 
their nativity — when the long line of Sachems, who had ruled 
over the wilderness for unknown ages, was to be broken, and 
their fires extinguished. Darkness, like that which precedes 
the light of morning, fell over them; and the sunrise of refine- 
ment has dawned upon another people ! The pestilence had 
destroyed thousands of the bravest of their warriors, and left the 
remainder feeble and disheartened. Feuds and dissentions pre- 
vailed among their tribes ; and though they made frequent dep- 
redations upon the defenceless settlements, and burnt many 
dwellings, and destroyed many lives, yet the emigrants soon 
became the ascendants in number and in power; and the feeble 
remnant of the red men, wearied and exhausted by unsuccess- 
ful conflicts, relinquished the long possession of their native 
soil, and retired into the pathless forests of the west. 

Much has been written to free the white people from the 
charge of aggression, and much to extenuate the implacability 
of the Indians. We should be cautious in censuring the con- 
duct of men, through whose energies we have received many 
of our dearest privileges ; and they who condemn the first 
settlers of New England as destitute of all true principle, err 
as much as they who laud their conduct with indiscriminate 
applause. Passionate opinion and violent action were the gen- 
eral faults of their time ; and when they saw that one principle 
was overstrained in its effect, they scarcely thought themselves 
safe until they had vacillated to the opposite extreme. Regard- 
ing themselves, like the Israelites, as a peculiar people, they 
imagined that they had a right, without an- immediate warrant 
from heaven, to destroy the red men as heathen. The arms 



INTHODUCTION. 13 

which at first they took up with the idea that they were requi- 
site for self-defence, were soon employed in a war of extermi- 
nation; and the generous mind is grieved to think, that instead 
of endeavoring to conciliate the Indians by kindness, they 
should have deemed it expedient to determine their destruction. 

The Indians had undoubtedly good cause to be jealous of the 
arrival of another people, and in some instances to consider 
themselves injured by their encroachments. Their tribes had 
inhabited the wilderness for ages, and the country was their 
home. Here were the scenes of their youthful sports, and here 
were the graves of their fathers. Here they had lived and 
loved, here they had warred and sung, and grown old with the 
hills and rocks. Here they had pursued the deer — not those 
'formed of clouds,' like the poetical creations of Ossian — but 
the red, beautiful, fleet-footed creatures of the wilderness. Over 
the glad waters that encircle Nahant, they had bounded in their 
birch canoes ; and in the streams, and along the sandy shore, 
they had spread their nets to gather the treasures of the deep. 
Their daughters did not adjust their locks before pier glasses, 
nor copy beautiful stanzas into gilt albums ; but they saw their 
graceful forms reflected in the clear waters, and their poetry 
was written in living characters on the green hills, and the sil- 
ver beach, and the black rocks of Nahant. Their brave sachems 
wore not the glittering epaulets of modern warfare, nor did 
the eagle banner of white men wave in their ranks ; but the 
untamed eagle of the woods soared over their heads, and be- 
neath their feet was the soil of freemen, which had never been 
sullied by the foot of a slave ! 

The red men were indeed cruel and implacable in their re- 
venge ; and if history be true, so have white men been in all 
ages. I knoAV of no cruelty practised by Indians, which white 
men have not even exceeded in their refinements of torture. 
The delineation of Indian barbarities presents awful pictures of 
blood ; but it should be remembered that those cruelties were 
committed at a time when the murder of six or cJGjht hundred of 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

the red people, sleeping around their own fires, in the silent re- 
pose of night, was deemed a meritorious service I In resisting to 
the last, they fought for their country, for freedom, for life — they 
contended for the safety and happiness of their wives and chil- 
dren ; for all that brave and high-minded men can hold dear I 
But they were subdued ; and the few who were not either 
killed or made prisoners, sought refuge in the darker recesses of 
their native woods. The ocean, in which they had so often 
bathed their athletic limbs, and the streams which had yielded 
their bountiful supplies of fish, were abandoned in silent grief; 
and the free and fearless Indian, who once wandered in all the 
pride of unsvibdued nature, over our fields and among our for- 
ests, was driven from his home, and compelled to look with 
regret to the shores of the sea, and the pleasant abodes of his 
youth I 

A few, indeed, continued for some years to hnger around the 
shores of their ancient habitations ; but they were like the 
spirits whom the Bard of Morven has described, ' sighing in the 
wind around the dwellings of their former greatness I' They 
are gone ; and over the greater part of New England the voice 
of the Indian is heard no more. That they were originally a 
noble race, is shown by the grandeur of their language, and by 
their mellifluous and highly poetical names of places — the yet 
proud appellations of many of our mountains, lakes, and rivers. 
It would have been gratifying to the lover of nature, if all the 
Indian names of places had been preserved, for they all had a 
meaning, applicable to scenery or event. ' Change not bar- 
barous names,' said the Persian sage, 'for they are given of 
God, and have inexpressible eflicacy.' The names of Saugus, 
Swampscot, and Nahant remain; and may they continue to 
remain, the imperishable memorials of a race which has long 
since passed away. 

In contemplating the destruction of a great people, the reflect- 
ing mind is naturally disposed to inquire into the causes of their 
decay, in order to educe motives for a better conduct, that their 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

wrongs may be in some degi*ee repaired, and a similar fate 
avoided. If dissension weakened the power of the tribes of the 
forest, why should it not impair the energies of our free States ? 
If the red men have fallen through the neglect of moral and 
religious improvement, to make way for a more refined state of 
society, and the emanations of a purer worship, how great is 
the reason to fear that we also may be suffered to wander in 
our own ways, because we will not know the ways of God, and 
to fall into doubt, disunion, and strife, till our country shall be 
given to others, as it has been given to us. He who took the 
sceptre from the most illustrious and powerful of ancient na- 
tions, and caused the tide of their prosperity and refinement to 
flow back and stagnate in the pools of ignorance, obscurity, and 
servitude, possesses ample means to humble the pride of any 
nation, when it shall cease to be guided by his counsels. Al- 
ready have evils of the most alarming consequences passed far 
on their march of desolation. Already has the Spirit of Discord, 
with his dark shadow, dimmed the brightness of our great coun- 
cil fire ! Already has the fondness for strong drink seized on 
thousands of our people, bringing the young to untimely graves, 
sapping the foundations of health and moral excellence, and 
pulling down the glory of our country. Already has a disregard 
for the Sabbath, and for divine institutions, begun openly to 
manifest itself; the concomitant of infidelity, and the harbinger 
of spiritual ruin. If we may trust the appearances in our west- 
ern regions, our land was once inhabited by civilized men, who 
must have disappeared long before the arrival of our fathers. 
May Heaven avert their destiny from us, to evince to the world 
how virtuous a people may be, on whom the blessing of civil 
liberty has fallen as an inheritance. 

The political system of our nation is probably the best which 
was ever devised by man for the common good ; but it practi- 
cally embraces one evil too obvious to be disregarded. While 
it advances the principle that all men have by nature the same 
civil rights, it retains, with strange inconsistency, one sixth of 



IG INTRODUCTION. 

the whole population in a state of abject bodily and mental ser- 
vitude. On its own principles, our government has no right to 
enslave any portion of its subjects ; and I am constrained, in 
the name of God and truth to say, that they must be free. 
Christianity and political expediency both demand their eman- 
cipation, nor will they always remain unheard. Many generous 
minds are already convinced of the importance of attention to 
this subject; and many more might speak in its behalf, in places 
where they could not be disregarded. Where are the ministers 
of our holy religion, that their prayers are not preferred for the 
liberation and enlightenment of men with souls as immortal as 
their own ? Where are the senators and representatives of our 
free States, that their voices are not heard in behalf of that most 
injured race? Let all who have talents, and power, and influence, 
exert them to free the slaves from their wrongs, and raise them 
to the rank and privileges of men. That the black people pos- 
sess mental powers capable of extensive cultivation, has been 
sufficiently evinced ; and the period may arrive when the lights 
of freedom and science shall shine much more extensively on 
these dark children of bondage — when the knowledge of the 
true faith shall awaken the nobler principles of their minds, and 
its practice place them in moral excellence far above those who 
are now trampling them in the dust. How will the spirit of 
regret then sadden over the brightness of our country's fame, 
when the muse of History shall lead their pens to trace the an- 
nals of their ancestors, and the inspiration of Poetry instruct 
their youthful bards to sing the oppression of their fathers in 
the land of Freedom I 

I trust the time will come, when on the annals of our country 
shall be inscribed the abolition of slavery — when the inhuman 
custom of war shall be viewed with abhorrence — when human- 
ity shall no longer be outraged by the exhibition of capital 
punishments — when the one great principle of love shall per- 
vade all classes — when the poor shall be furnished with em- 
ployment and ample remuneration — when men shall unite their 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

exertions for the promotion of those plans which embrace the 
welfare of the whole — that the unqualified approbation of 
Heaven may be secured to our country, and ' that glory may 
dwell in our land.' 

In delineating the annals of a single town, it can scarcely be 
expected that so good an opportunity will be afforded for variety 
of description and difiusiveness of remark, as in a work of a 
more general nature. It is also proper to observe, that this 
compilation was begun without any view to publication; but 
simply to gratify that natural curiosity which must arise in the 
mind of every one who extends his thoughts beyond the per- 
sons and incidents which immediately surround him. I may, 
however, be permitted to hope, that an attempt to delineate 
with accuracy the principal events which have transpired within 
my native town, for the space of two hundred years, will be in- 
teresting to many, though presented without any endeavor to 
adorn them with the graces of artificial ornament. My endeavor 
has been to ascertain facts, and to state them correctly. I have 
preferred the form of annals for a local history ; for thus every 
thing is found in its time and place. The labor and expense of 
making so small a book has been immense, and can never be 
appreciated by the reader, until he shall undertake to write a 
faithful history of one of our early towns, after its records have 
been lost. I could have written many volumes of romance or 
of general history, while preparing this volume ; and I have en- 
deavored to make it so complete, as to leave little for those who 
come after me, except to continue the work. 

It should be remembered, that previous to the change of the 
style, in 1752, the year began in March ; consequently February 
was the tw'elfth month. Ten days also are to be added to the 
date in the sixteenth century, and eleven in the seventeenth, to 
bring the dates to the present style. Thus, ' 12 mo. 25, 1629,' 
instead of being Christmas day, as some might suppose, would 
be March 6th, 1630. In the following pages, I have corrected 
3 



18 INTRODUCTION, 

the years and months, excepting when they are marked in quo- 
tations ; but I have left the days untouched. 

I have the genealogies of many of the early settlers, complete 
to the present time ; but to publish them all, would require an- 
other volume. The descendants of such, who are desirous of 
preserving their lineage, can have the lists of their ancestors by 
application to me. 

The history of Nahant is so intimately connected with that of 
the town, that I have continued them together ; but by referring 
to the index, the reader may readily trace out all which relates 
to that celebrated watering place. A topographical, historical, 
and geological Map of Lynn and Nahant, has been prepared 
from my own survey, which will be immediately published. 

ALONZO LEWIS. 



HISTORY OP LYNN. 



CHAPTER I. 

Situation of Lynn — Its picturesque beauty — Indian name of the town, Saugus 

— Abousett River — Xahant — Swallows' Cave — Pea Island — Shag- Rocks — 
Irene's Grotto— Pulpit Rock— Natural Bridge— Cauldron Cliff— Castle Rock 

— Spouting Horn— Iron Mine — John's Peril— Egg Rock— Little Nahant — 
Beaches — Swampscot — High Rock — Lover's Leap — Lakes of Lynn — 
Springs — Geology — Botany — Phenomena — Storm at Nahant. 

One showed on iron coast and anirry waves, 

You seemed to hear them rhmb and fall, 

And roar ruck-thwarted under bellowing caves. 




•"^^^YNN is pleasantly situated on the northern 
^ of Massachusetts Bay, between the 



f^ shore 
cities of 



Salem and Boston. It extends six 
miles on the sea shore, and five miles into the 
woods. The sovithern portion of the town is 
^^,^ a long narrow prairie, defended on the north 
^1 by a chain of high rocky hills, beyond which 
is an extensive range of woodland. It is sur- 
rounded by abundance of water; having the 
river of Saugus on the west, the Harbor on 
the south, the Ocean on the southeast, and the Lakes of Lynn 
on the north. From the centre of the southern side, a beach 
of sand extends two miles into the ocean ; at the end of which 
are the two peninsular islands called ' the Nahants.' This 
beach forms one side of the harbor, and protects it from the 
ocean. When great storms beat on this beach, and on the cliffs 
of Nahant, they make a roaring which may be heard six miles. 
Lynn is emphatically a region of romance and beauty. Her 
wide-spread and variegated shores — her extended beaches — 
her beautiful Nahant — her craggy clitfs, that overhang the 
sea — her hills of porphyry — her woodland lakes — her wild 
secluded vales — her lovely groves, where sings the whip-poor- 



20 



HISTOKY OF LYNN 



will, furnish fruitful themes for inexhaustible description ; while 
the legends of her forest kings and their vast tribes — 'their 
feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves ' will be rich themes of 
song a hundred ages hence. 

Lynn, as it now exists, is much smaller than it was before the 
towns of Saugus, Lynnfield, Reading, and South Reading were 
separated from it. It is now bounded on the west by Saugus, 
on the northwest by Lynnlield, on the north and east by Dan- 
vers and Salem. The old County road passes through the 
northern part, the Salem Turnpike through the centre, and the 
Rail-road from Portland to Boston through the southern part. 
The distance to Salem, on the northeast, is five miles ; to Boston, 
on the southwest, nine miles. It contains 9360 acres, or four- 
teen square miles ; and the boundary line measures thirty-four 
miles. It presents a bold and rocky shore, consisting of craggy 
and precipitous cliffs, interspersed with numerous bays, coves 
and beaches, which furnish a pleasing and picturesque variety. 




Above these rise little verdant mounds and lofty barren rocks, 
and high hills clothed Avith woods of evergreen. The first 
settlers found the town, including Nahant, chiefly covered by 
forests of aged trees, which had never been disturbed but by 
the storms of centuries. On the tops of ancient oaks, which 
grew upon the cliffs, the eagles built their nests; the wild-cat 
and the bear rested in their branches; and the fox and the wolf 
prowled beneath. The squirrel made his home undisturbed in 



H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 21 

the nut-tree ; the wood pigeon murmured his sweet notes in the 
glen ; and the beaver constructed his dam across the wild brook. 
The ponds and streams were filled with fish ; and the harbor 
was covered by sea-fowl, which laid their eggs on the cliffs and 
on the sands of the beach. 

The Indian name of the town was Saugus ; and by that 
name it was known for eight years. The root of this word sig- 
nifies great or extended; and it was probably applied to the 
Long Beach. Wood, in his early Map of New England, places 
the word ' Sagus ' on Sagamore Hill. The river on the west 
was called by the Indians ' Abousett' — the word Saugus being 
applied to it by the white men. It was called the river at Sau- 
gus, and the river of Saugus, and finally the Saugus river; the 
original name ' Abousett' being lost, until I had the pleasure of 
restoring it. This river has its source in Reading pond, about 
ten miles from the sea. For the first half of its course, it is only 
sutficient for a mill stream, but becomes broader towards its 
mouth, where it is more than a quarter of a mile wide. It is 
crossed by four bridges — that at the ironworks being about 60 
feet in length, that on the old Boston road about two hundred 
feet, on the Turnpike 460 feet, and on the Rail-road 1550 feet in 
length. It is very crooked in its course, flowing three miles in 
the distance of one. In several places, after making a circuitous 
route of half a mile, it returns to within a few rods of the place 
whence it deviated. The harbor, into which it flows, is spacious, 
but shoal, and does not easily admit large vessels. 

Nahant is the original name of the peninsula on the south 
of Lynn, which has become so celebrated. This is probably 
the Indian term Nahanteu, a dual word, signifying two united, 
or twins. This name is peculiarly appropriate, and is an instance 
of the felicity of Indian appellations; for the two islands, like 
the Siamese twins, are not only connected together by the short 
beach, but both are chained to the main land by the long beach. 
When the early settlers spoke of the larger promontory, they 
called it Nahant; but more commonly after the manner of the 
Indians, who talked of both together, as twin brothers, they 
called them ' the Nahants.' 

Great Nahant is two nnles in length, and about half a mile in 
breadth, containing five hundred acres ; and is six and one quar- 
ter miles in circumference. It is surrounded by steep, craggy 
cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet above the tide, with a con- 
siderable depth of water below. The rocks present a great 
variety of color — wliite, green, blue, red, {)urple,and gray — and 
in some places very black and shining, having the ap[)carance 
of iron. The clifls are pierced by many deep fissures, caverns, 
and grottoes; and between these arc nimierous coves, and 
beeches of fine, shining, silvery sand, crowned by ridges of va- 



22 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



rious colored pebbles, interspersed with sea-shells. Above the 
cliffs, the promontory swells into mounds from sixty to ninety 
feet in height. There are many remarkable cliffs and caves 
around Nahant, which are very interesting to the lovers of natu- 
ral curiosities. 




SWALLOWS CAVE. 



The swallows' cave is a passage beneath a high cliff, on the 
southeastern part of Nahant. The entrance is eight feet high 
and ten wide. Inside, it is fourteen feet wide, and nearly twenty 
feet in height. Toward the centre it becomes narrower, and, at 
the distance of seventy-two feet, opens into the sea. It may 
be entered about half tide, and passing through, you may ascend 
to the height above, without returning through the cave. At 
high tide the water rushes through with great fury. The swal- 
lows formerly inhabited this cave in great numbers, and built 
their nests on the irregularities of the rock above, but the multi- 
tude of visiters have frightened them mostly away. 

In delineating this delightful cavern, many a vision of early 
romance rises lovelily before me, 

And presses forward to be in my song, 
But must not now. — 

It is not allowable for a serious historian to indulge in discur- 
sions of fancy, else might I record many a legend of love and 



HISTORY OF Li'NN. 



23 



constancy, which has been transmitted down from the olden 
time, in connexion with this rude and romantic scenery. Here 
came the Indian maid, in all her artlessness of beauty, to lave 
her limbs in the enamored water. Here came Wenuchus and 
Yawata, and other daughters of the forest, to indulge the gush- 
ings of their love ; which they had learned, not in the pages of 
Burns or Byron, but in God's beautiful book of the unsophisti- 
cated human heart. Here too, the cliffs, now washed by the 
pure waves, and dried by many a summer sun, have been pur- 
pled by the blood of human slaughter; and perhaps this very 
cavern has sheltered some Indian mother or daughter from the 
tomahawk of the remorseless foe of her nation. Here also, in 
later times, have lovers pledged their warm and fond affections — 
happy if the succeeding realities of life have not frustrated the 
vision of happiness here formed. 

Southward from the Swallows' Cave is Pea Island, an irregu- 
lar rock, about twenty rods broad. It has some soil on it, on 
which the sea pea grows. It is united to the Swallows' Cliff" 
by a little isthmus, or beach of sand, thirteen rods long. 

Eastward from Pea Island are two long, low, black ledges, 
lying in the water, and covered at high tides, called the Shag 
Rocks. Several vessels have been wrecked on them. 




IRENE S GROTTO. 



Passing from the Swallows' Cave along the rocks, near the 
edge of the water, to the western side of the same cliff] you 
come to Irene's Grotto — a tall arch, singularly grotesque and 



24 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



beautiful, leading to a large room in the rock. This is one of 
the greatest curiosities on Naliant, and was formerly much more 
so until sacrilegious hands broke down part of the roof above, to 
obtain stone for building. 




PULPIT ROCK. 



Eastward from Swallows' Cave is Pulpit Rock — a vast block 
about thirty feet in height, and nearly twenty feet square, stand- 
ing boldly out in the tide. On the top is an opening, forming a 
seat ; but from the steepness of the rock on all sides, it is diffi- 
cult of access. The upper portion of the rock has a striking 
resemblance to a pile of great books. This rock is so peculiarly 
unique in its situation and character, that if drawings were made 
of it from three sides, they would scarcely be supposed to repre- 
sent the same object. 

The Natural Bridge is near Pulpit Rock. It is a portion of 
the cliff forming an arch across a deep gorge, from which you 
look down upon the rocks and tide, twenty feet below. 

Near East Point is a great gorge, overhung by a precipice on 
either side, called the Cauldron Cliff; in which, especially dur- 
ing great storms, the water boils with tremendous force and fury. 
Cn the right of this, descending another way, is the Roaring 
Cavern ; having an aperture beneath the rock, through which 
you hear the roaring of the Cauldron ClifT 



HISTORY OF L Y N N 



25 



On the northeastern side of Nahant, at the extremity of Ce- 
dar Point, is Castle Rock, an immense pile, bearing a strong 
resemblance to the ruins of an old castle. The battlements and 
buttresses are strongly outlined; and the square openings in the 
sides, especially wlien thrown into deep shadow, apjicar like 
doors, windows, and embrasures. Indeed the whole of Nahant 
has the appearance of a strongly fortified place. 




'|'!!ll!''-;;::^i^.i^^^^?'l''jiJ«!MM51'j'Vi|l!l!mil>WiiJH'^„irg 



CASTLE ROCK. 



Northwest from Castle Rock is the Spouting Horn. It is a 
winding fissure in the lower projecting bed of the cliff, in the 
form of a horn, passing into a deep cavern under the rock. The 
water is driven through a tunnel, formed by two walls of rock, 
about one hundred feet, and is then forced into the cavern, from 
which it is spouted, with great violence, in foam and spray. In 
a great easterly storm, at half flood, when tlie tide is coming in 
with all its power, the water is driven into this opening with a 
force that seems to jar the foundation of the solid rock ; and 
each wave makes a sound like subterranean thunder. The clifi 
rises abrui)tly forty feet above, but there is a good descent to the 
mouth of the tunnel. 

Westward from the Spouting Horn is a large black ledge, 
called the Iron Mine, from its great resemblance to that mineral. 
It embraces a singular cavity, called the Dashing Rock. 

At the Northwestern extremity of Nahant, is John's Peril, a 
vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet perpendicular. It received its 
name from the following anecdote : John Breed, one of the early 
inhabitants of Nahant, one day attempted to drive his team be- 
tween a rock on the hill and tliis cliff. The passage bcuig nar- 
4 




26 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



row, and finding his team in great peril, he hastily unfastened 
his oxen ; and the cart, falling down the precipice, was dashed in 
pieces on the rocks below. 

Directly in front of Nahant, at the distance of three-fourths 
of a mile on the east, is Egg Rock. It rises abruptly from the 
sea, eighty-six feet in height. Its shape is oval, being forty-five 
rods m length, and twelve in breadth, containing about three 
acres. Near the summit is half an acre of excellent soil covered 
with rank grass. The gulls lay their eggs here in abundance, 
whence the rock derives its name. The approach to this rock 
IS dangerous, except in calm weather, and there is but one good 
landing place, which is on the western side. Its shape and 
colors are highly picturesque. Viewed from the north, it has 
the semblance of a couchant lion, lying out in front of the town, 
to protect it from the approach of a foreign enemy — meet em- 
blem of the spirit which slumbers on our shores ! 




EGG ROCK. 



South Of Nahant is a dangerous rock, covered at high tide, 
called Sunk Rock. On the western side, at the entrance of the 
harbor, is a cluster of rocks, called the Lobster Rocks 

Lutle Nahant is one hundred and forty rods long, and seventy 
broad contaming forty acres. It is a hill, consisting of two 
graceful elevations, rising eighty feet above the sea, and defend- 
ed by great battlements of rock, from twenty to sixty feet in 
height. On the southern side are two deep gorges, called the 
Great and Little 1 urnace. Between these is Mary's Grotto a 
spacious room, twenty-four feet square, and twenty in hei-ht 
opening into the sea. It was formeriy completely roofed bv a 
great arched rock , but some of those persons who have no ven- 
eration for the sublime works of Nature, have broken down a 
large portion of it^ On the north side of Little Nahant is a 
fissure called the Wolf's Cave. 



H I S T O R Y F L Y \ X . 27 

Little Nahant is connected to Great ]S'aliant by Nahant Beach, 
which is somewhat more than half a mile in length, of great 
smoothness and beauty. 

Lynn Beach, which connects the Nahants to the main land, 
is two miles in length on the eastern side, and two and a half 
miles on the western. It is an isthmus, or causeway, of fine 
shining, gray sand, forming a curve, and rising so high in the 
centre as generally to prevent the tide from passing over. On 
the western side it slopes to the harbor, and on the eastern side 
to the ocean. The ocean side is most beautiful, as here the tide 
flows out about thirty-three rods, leaving a smooth polished sur- 
face of compact sand, so hard that the horse's hoof scarcely 
makes a print, and the wheel passes without sound. It frequently 
retains sufficient lustre after the tide has left it, to give it the 
appearance of a mirror ; and on a cloudy day, the traveller may 
see the perfect image of his horse reflected beneath, with the 
clouds below, and can easily imagine himself to be passing, like 
a spirit, through a world of shadows — a brightly mirrored em- 
blem of his real existence I 

It is difficult — perhaps impossible, to convey to the mind of a 
reader who has never witnessed the prospect, an idea of the 
beauty and sublimity of this beach, and of the absolute magni- 
ficence of the surrounding scener}^ A floor of sand, two miles 
in length, and more than nine hundred feet in breadth, at low 
tide, bounded on two sides by the water and the sky, and pre- 
senting a surface so extensive that two millions of people might 
stand upon it, is certainly a view which the universe cannot 
parallel. This beach is composed of movable particles of sand, 
so small that two thousand of them would not make a grain as 
large as the head of a pin; yet these movable atoms have 
withstood the whole immense power of the Atlantic ocean for 
centuries — perhaps from the creation I 

There are five beaches on the shores of Lynn, and sixteen 
around Nahant. The names of these, beginning at the east, 
are Phillips' — Whale — Swampscot — Humfrey's — Lynn — 
Nahant — Stoncy — Bass — Canoe — Bathing — Pea Island — 
Joseph's — Curlew — Crystal — Dorothy's — Pond — Lewis's — 
Coral — Reed — Johnson's — and Black Rock Beaches. These 
together have an extent of nine miles, and most of them are 
smooth and beautiful. Great quantities of kelp and rock weed 
are thrown upon these beaches by storms, which are gathered 
by the farmers for the enrichment of their lands. 

Swampscot is the original Indian name of the fishing village 
at the eastern part of the town. This is a place of great natural 
beauty, bearing a strong resemblance to the Bay of Naples. On 
the west of Swampscot is a pleasant rock, called ' Black Will's 
Cliff,' from an Indian Sagamore who resided there. On the 



28 n I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 

east is a low and very dangerous ledge of rocks, extending into 
the sea, called Dread Ledge. The cliffs, coves, and beaches at 
Swampscot are admirably picturesque, and vie with those of 
Nahant in romantic beauty. 

There are numerous building sites of surpassing loveliness, 
not only at Nahant and Swampscot, but throughout the whole 
town ; and when a better taste in architecture shall prevail, and 
the town becomes as highly ornamented by art as it has been by 
nature, it will perhaps be surpassed by no town in the Union. 
I have long endeavored to introduce a style of architcctui'e 
which shall be in harmony with the wild and natural beauty of 
the scenery — a style in which the cottages shall appear to grow 
out of the rocks, and to be born of the woods. In some instan- 
ces I have succeeded, but most people have been too busy in 
other occupations to study a cultivated and harmonizing taste. 
When a style of rural refinement shall prevail — when the hills 
and cliffs shall be adorned with buildings in accordance with the 
scenery around — and when men, instead of cutting down every 
tree and shrub, shall re-clothe nature w^ith the drapery of her 
appropriate foliage, Lynn will appear much more lovely and in- 
teresting than at present. 

The eminences in different parts of the town, furnish a great 
variety of pleasing prospects. High Kock, near the centre of 
the town, is an abrupt cliff, one hundred and seventy feet in 
height. The view from this rock is very extensive and beauti- 
ful. On the east is the pleasant village of Swampscot, with its 
cluster of slender masts, and its beach covered with boats — Ba- 
ker's Island with its light — the white towers of Marblehead — 
and the distant headland of Cape Ann. On the right is Bunker 
Hill, with its obelisk of granite — the majestic dome, and the 
lofty spires of Boston — the beautiful green islands, with the 
forts and light houses in the bay — and far beyond, the Blue 
Plills, softly mingling with sky. On the north is a vast range 
of hill and forest, abov^e which rises the misty summit of Wa- 
chusett. Before you is the town of Lynn, with its white houses 
and green trees — the rail-road cars gliding as if by magic across 
the landscape — the Long Beach, stretching out in its beauty — 
the dark rocks of Nahant, crowned with romantic cottages — Egg 
Rock in its solitary dignity — and the vast ocean, spreading out 
in its interminable grandeur. There too may be seen a hundred 
dorys of the fishermen, skimming lightly on the waves — the 
Swampscot jiggers, bounding like sea birds over the billows — a 
hundred ships ploughing the deep waters — and the mighty 
steamers wending their way to and from England. The whole 
is a splendid panorama of the magnificent Bay of Massachusetts! 

Lover's Leap is a beautiful and romantic elevation, one mile 
northwest from High Rock. It is a steep cliffy on the side of a 



II I S T O R Y O F L Y N N. 29 

hill clothed with wood, one hundred and thirty-three feet in 
lieight — that is, thirty-three feet to the base of the hill, and one 
hundred feet above. It furnishes a pleasant view of a large 
portion of the town. 

Pine Hill is half a mile West from Lover's Leap. It is two 
hundred and twenty-four feet in height. The southwestern ex- 
tremity of this hill is called Sadler's Rock, which is one hundred 
and sixty-six feet high. A small distance northward of this, is 
a cliff, by the road side, which was struck by lightning in 1807, 
when a portion of the rock, about six tons weight, was split off, 
and thrown nearly two hundred feet; the bolt leaving its deep 
traces down the side of the rock. A few rods beyond, where 
the road is crossed by a brook, is a flat rock, in which is impress- 
ed the print of a cloven foot, apparently that of a cow or moose. 
A stone, lying near, bears the deep impress of a child's feet. 

Sagamore Hill is a very pleasant eminence at the northern 
end of the Long Beach, sixty-six feet in height. It slopes to 
the harbor on one side, and to the ocean on the other, and has 
the town lying beautifully in the back ground. Half a mile 
eastward is Pted Ptock, which forms a very pretty little pro- 
montory in the ocean. Many spots in the hills and forests of 
Lynn are beautifully wild and romantic. There is a delightful 
walk on the eastern bank of Saugus River, which passes through 
one of the loveliest pine groves imaginable. On the eastern side 
of this river also is the Pirate's Glen, respecting which a legend 
will be found in the following pages. The view from Round 
Hill in Saugus is delightful. 

There are eight ponds in Lynn, several of which are large, 
having the appearance of little lakes. Their names are. Cedar — 
Tomlin's — Flax — Lily — Floating Bridge — Phillips' — In- 
galls' — and Bear Pond on Nahant. The first three of these are 
connected with Saugus Ptiver by Strawberry Brook, on which 
are many mills and factories. The margins of some of these 
lakes are very pleasant, and will probably, at some more tasteful 
period, be adorned with beautiful villas and delightful cottages. 
The water in Tomlin's Pond is sixty feet above the ocean. 
Floating Bridge Pond is crossed by a bridge which floats on the 
water. It is four hundred and fifty-six feet in length, and is 
quite a curiosity, reminding one of the Persian bridge of boats 
across the Hellespont. 

Springs are abundant — some of them exceedingly cold and 
pure, and good water is easily obtained. A mineral spring exists 
near the eastern border of the town, the waters of which are 
celebrated for their medicinal virtues. There are several fine 
springs on Nahant, particularly North Spring, which is remarka- 
bly cold, flowing from an aperture beneath a cliff, into which the 
sun never shines. One of the early inhabitants of Nahant, 



30 HISTORYOFLYNN. 

having a violent fever, asked for water, which as usual was de- 
nied him ; but, watching an opportunity, he escaped from his 
bed, ran half a mile to this spring, drank as much water as he 
wanted, and immediately recovered. A curious boihng spring, 
called Holyoke Spring, surrounded by willows, is found in a 
meadow, near the western end of Holyoke street. Another 
boiling spring may be seen in the clay meadow, near the centre 
of Saugus. There is also a mineral spring in the western part 
of that town, near the Maiden line. 

Lynn furnishes an admirable study for the geologist. The 
northern part of the town abounds with rocky hills, composed of 
porphyry, greenstone, and sienite. Porphyry commences at 
E,ed Rock, and passing through the town in a curve toward the 
northwest, forms a range of hills, including High Rock, Lover's 
Leap, and Sadler's Rock. The term porphyry is derived from 
a Greek word signifying purple. It is composed of feldspar and 
quartz, and is of various colors — purple, red, gray, brown, and 
black. It gives fire with steel, and is susceptible of a high 
polish ; the best specimens being very beautiful, equalling the 
])orphyry of the ancients. The western portion of the town com- 
prises ledges and hills of brecciated porphyry ; that is, porphyry 
which has been broken in fragments, and then cemented by a 
fluid. The porphyry formation continues on through Saugus. 
Near the Pirates' Glen is a ledge, which is being disintegrated 
into very coarse gravel, having the appearance of pumice, or 
rotten stone. Specimens of clinkstone porphyry are found, which, 
when struck, give out a metallic sound. At Lover's Leap, and 
some other ledges, the porphyry seems to be subsiding into fine 
hornstone. At Sadler's Rock, it is of a very delicate purple. 

The hills, in the eastern section of the town, including the 
ledges and cliiTs at Swampscot, consist of a coarse-grained 
greenstone, composed of hornblende and feldspar. In opening 
these ledges, dendrites of manganese have been found, beauti- 
fully disposed in the form of trees and shrubs. This tract of 
greenstone extends through the town, north of the porphyiy 
hills. In many places it is beautifully veined with quartz, and 
other substances. A little north from the Iron Works in Saugus, 
is a great ledge by the roadside, with a singular vein passing 
through it, having the appearance of a flight of stairs. On the 
eastern bank of the river, southward from the Iron Works, is a 
wild, tremendous ledge, from which many vast fragments have 
fallen, and others seem ready to topple on the head of the be- 
holder. 

The northern section of the town comprises fine beds of 
granite, of a grayish color, composed of feldspar, hornblende, and 
quartz. It has its name from Siena, in Egypt. It is found in 
great variety, from very fine to very coarse, and is used for build- 



HISTORY OF I. TNN. 31 

ing, and for mill-stones. From the presence of iron ore, it fre- 
quently attracts the compass, and occasions much difficulty in 
surveying. At one place in the Lynn woods, the north end of 
the needle pointed south ; and at another, it went round forty 
times in a minute. 

Granite occurs, but chiefly in roundish masses, or boulders, 
composed of feldspar, quartz, and mica. It is not so frequent as 
formerly, the best specimens having been used for building. It 
is remarkable, that nearly all these boulders appear to have been 
brought, by a strong flood, from a considerable distance north ; 
and many of them were left, in very peculiar and sometimes 
surprising positions, on the tops of the highest hills and ledges. 
One of these, near the Salem line, rested on the angular point 
of a rock, and was a great curiosity, until that rage for destruc- 
tiveness, which exists in some people, caused it to be blown 
down by powder. Another boulder, fourteen feet in diameter, 
weighing one hundred and thirty tons, lay on the very summit 
of the clifTnext east from Sadler's Rock. It appeared to repose 
so loosely that a strong wind might rock it, yet it required fifteen 
men with levers to roll it down. A boulder of breccia, on the 
boundary line between Lynn and Saugus, rests on a ledge of 
breccia of a different character, and appears to have been re- 
moved from its original situation in the north. It is tAvelve feet 
in diameter, weighing eighty-three tons. On this line also is a 
still greater curiosity — a vast rock of greenstone, which appears 
to have been brought from its bed in the north, and placed on the 
summit of a hill, where it forms a very picturesque object. It 
was originally sixteen feet in diameter, weighing two hundred 
tons ; but several large portions have been detached, either by 
frost or lightning, perha})S both. It must have been a tremen- 
dous torrent, which coixld have removed rocks of such magni- 
tude, and placed them on such elevations. Many boulders of 
granite now he on the summit of Little Nahant. The cliffs at 
this place are greenstone, and on the western end are several 
specimens of pudding stone. A conglomerate rock, or boulder 
of breccia, of a very peculiar character, lies in the tide, on the 
south side of Little Nahant. It is a spheroid, eighteen feet in 
diameter, weighing two hundred and sixty tons. Its singular 
disposition of colors renders it a great curiosity. 

The western and southern portions of Great Nahant are com- 
posed of fine and coarse grained greenstones, and greenstone 
porphyry. The hills and ledges on the northern side arc sicnite ; 
and on the northeast, they are a coarse-grained greenstone, 
blending into sienite. The southeastern portion is composed of 
stratified rocks of argillaceous limestone, and argillaceous slate, 
variously combined, and traversed by immense veins of green- 
stone. The rocks, in this part, present a very peculiar appear- 



32 H I S T O R Y O r L Y N N . 

ance, both in their combination and disposition ; consisting of 
immense masses, and irregular fragments, cracked and broken 
in every direction. Were we to sup])ose a portion of one of the 
asteroids, in an ignited state, to have been precipitated through 
the atmosphere, from the southeast, and striking the earth in an 
angle of forty degrees, to have been shivered into an infinite 
number of fragments, it would probably present the appearance 
which Nahant now exhibits. There must have been some tre- 
mendous up-heaving to have produced such results ; and it is 
not improbable that a volcano has more than once been busy 
among the foundations of Nahant. 

On the northern shore is a vast ledge of pure hornblende, so 
very black and shining as to have deceived early voyagers and 
founders, that it was a mine of iron ore. A very curious vein of 
fine greenstone, two inches in thickness, passes through this 
ledge, for more than two hundred feet, in a direction from south- 
east to northwest. Eastward from this, the rock is traversed by 
veins of various colors, and in difTerent directions ; evidently 
produced by the action of fu-e. The primitive rock appears to 
have been strongly heated, and to have cracked in cooling. A 
fissure was thus formed, through which a liquid mass was erupt- 
ed ; which again heated the rock, and as it cooled, formed 
another fissure in a transverse direction. This was filled by a 
third substance ; a similar process followed ; and the original 
rock, and the preceding veins, were traversed by a fourth 
formation. 

At Nahant are found porphyry, gneiss, and hornstone. It also 
presents regular strata of foliated feldspar ; and, perhaps, the 
only instance in New England, in which trap rock exhibits such 
parallel divisions. Here also are found jasper, chalcedony, and 
agate ; with prase, ])rehnite, chert, chlorite, datholite, dolomite, 
quartz, epidote, rhomb spar, carbonate of lime, and lignified as- 
bestos. At Crystal Beach are fine specimens of crystallized 
corundum, probably the only locality of this mineral in the United 
States. These crystals are in six-sided prisms, terminated by 
hexagonal pyramids, half an inch in diameter, and from two to 
five inches in length, single and in clusters. SwalloAVs' Cave is 
composed of greenstone ; Pulpit Rock of argillaceous slate ; 
Castle Kock of greenstone ; Egg Rock of compact feldspar. 
Mineral teeth are formed by the fusion of pure feldspar. 

In Saugus are found most of the rocks common to Lynn. 
Here are rocks of red and green jasj)er, with antimony, and bog 
iron ore in abundance. An account of the Iron Furnace anciently 
established here, will be found in the following pages. Lead 
ore has also been discovered, in the western part of the town, on 
land owned by Benjamin Franklin Newhall. In the northern 
part of the town, sulphate of iron is found. Extensive beds of 



HISTORYOFLYNN. 33 

very fine clay exist near the centre of the town, which have 
been wrought into pottery. In 1630, a very singular discovery 
was made near the old tavern on the west of Saugus River. It 
consisted of a mass of very fine and beautiful blue sand, which 
lay in a hard gravel bed, about one foot below the surface. 
There were about eight quarts of it. This sand has a very sharp 
grit, yet it is as fine as can easily be imagined, and as blue as 
the bluest pigment. Viewed through a magnifying glass, it ap- 
pears bright and sparkling, like the finest possible particles of 
silver. At Lynnfield, an extensive quarry of serpentine has been 
opened. 

A large portion of Lynn bears strong evidence both of allu- 
vial and diluvial formations. That part between the porphyry 
hills and the harbor, is chiefly composed of strata of sand, clay, 
and gravel, covered by loam and soil. The clay and gravel vary 
in thickness from two to fifteen feet. On the borders of Saugus 
River are extensive tracts of salt marsh, the mud of which is 
from two to twenty feet in depth ; and it is probable that this 
portion was once covered by the ocean. There are also evi- 
dences that a much larger quantity of water has at some time 
been discharged by the Saugus River ; and this accords with an 
Indian tradition. Just above the iron works, the river diverges 
toward the west ; but a great valley continues toward the north. 
AVhoever is curious to trace tliis valley several miles, may be 
satisfied that a great flood has at some time passed through it; 
and perhaps it was this torrent which brought the boulders, and 
swept down the soil which now constitutes the bed of the 
marshes. 

These great tracts of marsh, called by the first settlers Rum- 
ney Marsh, are in Lynn, Saugus, and Chelsea. They lie be- 
tween the porphyry hills and the sea, and are about a mile in 
breadth, and nearly three miles in extent. The western portion 
of these marshes are protected by Chelsea Beach, a long ridge 
of sand which has been thrown up by the tide, and lies against 
tlieir southern margin. The eastern section is defended from the 
sea by the Lynn Beach, which lies a mile distant, with the har- 
bor inside. Throughout this region of marsh are trunks of great 
trees, chiefly pines, imbedded from two to four feet beneath the 
surface, and in a good state of preservation. The salt water fre- 
quently covers these marshes from two to three feet. Many of 
these trees lie in a direction from north to south, as if they had 
been blown down by a strong north wind, on the spot where they 
grew. But that is probably the direction in which they would 
have been deposited, if brought down by a great northern cur- 
rent. Others lie in different directions. If we suppose these 
trees to have grown where they now lie, we have the singular 
anomaly of a vast forest of great trees, growing from two to six 
5 



34 HISTORYOFLYNN. 

feet below the high tides of salt water. Nor will it assist us any 
to suppose, that this forest was protected from the sea by a great 
ridge or beach ; for a river comes down from the north, and they 
must tlien have grown at a greater depth beneath fresh water. 
The probabiUty that they were brought from their original forest 
by a great northern current, is strengthened by the fact, that on 
the west of these marshes is a great region of mounds of sand 
and gravel, from twenty to one hundred feet in height, in digging 
through which, portions of trees have been found. Another fact 
will be interesting to the geologist, that though all the neighbor- 
ing hills are covered with trees, these mounds, though clothed 
with grass, are destitute of foHage ; and WiUiam Wood, more 
than two centuries ago, describes them as ' upland grasse, with- 
out tree or shrub.' 

An alluvion commences at Humfrey's Beach, and passes up 
Stacey's Brook, beneath which is another fine stratum of clay. 
In this tract are some rich peat meadows, which were formerly 
ponds. The peat is a formation of decomposed vegetables, and 
is dug by a kind of long spade, which cuts it into regular sohds, 
about four inches square, and two feet in length. It is then 
piled and dried for fuel, and produces a constant and intense 
heat. A meadow between Orange and Chatham streets con- 
tains an alluvial deposit of rich black soil, twelve feet in depth. 
In digging to the depth of three feet, the trunk of a large oak 
was found ; and at the depth of six feet, a stratum of leaves and 
burnt wood. In various other places, the fallen trunks of great 
trees have been found, from three to six feet below the surface, 
with large trees growing above them. In the north part of Lynn, 
and in Saugus, are several large swamps, remarkable for the 
great depth of vegetable matter, and for the wonderful preserva- 
tion of wood in them. Many acres of these swamps have been 
cleared, and several hundred cords of wood taken from them, 
and charred into good coal. And still beneath these depths ap- 
pears to be a ' lower deep,' filled with wood partially decayed. 
The whole southern section of the town, also, presents strong 
evidences of great geological changes. Whoever visits Chelsea 
Beach, which extends westward from Lynn Harbor, may per- 
ceive that a new beach has been thrown up, outside the old 
one ; and the appearance gives great confidence in the Indian 
tradition, that this beach was thrown up by a great storm, in a 
single night. The Lynn Beach was once much further out than 
at present; and within it was a swamp, covered by large pines 
and cedars, forming an isthmus from Lynn to Nahant. The 
beach was thrown up against the eastern shore of this isthmus, 
and a succession of groat storm tides have driven it in, imtil the 
whole isthmus has been submerged by water and sand. By my 
own surveys, I find that this beach has moved five rods with- 



HISTORTOFLYNN. 35 

in twelve years, and now covers many acres of marshy ground, 
which were on the western side. After great storms, portions 
of tliis marsh, covered by the stumps of trees, frequently appear 
on the eastern side. This beach has been so much injured, 
there is reason to apprehend that the tides may sweep over and 
destroy it. Such an event is greatly to be deprecated, belli as 
it regards its beanty and utility; for the existence of the harbor 
depends on its durability. If the plan be completed, which I pro- 
posed, of making a barrier of cedar, it may be saved. I hope 
that public spirit enough may be found, to preserve this great 
natural curiosity for the admiration of future generations. 

Most of the trees and plants common to New England, are 
found at Lynn, and some which are rare and valuable. The 
principal trees are white and pitch pine, while and red cedar, 
oak, walnut, maple, birch, and hemlock. One of the most com- 
mon shrubs is the barberry ; the root of which is used in dying 
yellow, and the fruit is an excellent preserve. Many tons of 
sumach are annually gathered, and used in the manufacture of 
morocco leather. Whortleberries are very plenty in the pas- 
tures, and many hundred bushels are annually gathered. Blue- 
berries, raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries, are also com- 
mon. The forests, fields, and meadows, are rich in the abun- 
dance and variety of medicinal plants, and the town presents a 
fine field for the botanist. 

Great numbers of wild birds, of almost every kind, frequent 
the woods and waters of Lynn. Numerous sea-fowl afford 
amusement to the sportsman ; and there is scarcely a bird com- 
mon to North America, which does not, at some season of the 
year, gratify our ears with its song, or delight our eyes by its 
plumage. A great variety of fishes, also, are foimd in the waters. 
Haddock, halibut, cod, bass, and mackerel, are taken in abun- 
dance in boats ; and nippers and tautog are caught by dozens, 
with hook and line, from the cliffs of Nahant. Hundreds, and 
sometimes thousands of lobsters, are daily taken in the summer, 
by traps which are set around the shores ; and alewives in abun- 
dance are caught in the streams in the month of May. To give 
a particular description of all the animal and vegetable produc- 
tions, would be to write a volume. In the coves around Nahant, 
that very singular vecretable animal, called the sea-anemone, or 
rose fish, is found. They grow on the rocks in the deep pools, 
and when extended, are from six to eight inches in length, fur- 
nished with antenna, or feelers, which they put out to seek for 
their food; but if touched, they shrink close to the rock, and re- 
main folded like a rose. On summer evenings, the meadows 
exhibit a beautiful appearance, being illuminated by thousands 
of fire-flies, which appear to take ineffable delight in enlivening 
the gloom by their phosphoric radiance. One of them in a dark 
room, will emit sufficient light to read the finest print. 



36 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



Some portions of the soil are very fertile, but generally it is 
rather hard and acidulous. The pastures produce barberries, the 
woodlands grapes ; the meadows are filled with cranberries, the 
marshes with samphire ; and the fields, when neglected, run 
into sorrel. Much dependance is placed upon sea-weeds for the 
enrichment of the lands ; but the soil would be much more per- 
manently improved by the rich mud from the bed of the harbor. 

The climate is subject to sudden changes, and great extremes 
of heat and cold, being strangely mixed up with beautiful sun- 
light and horrid storms, moonshiny evenings and long days of 
cold rain, bright blue sky and impenetrable fogs. European poets 
tell us of the charms of May, and the song of the nightingale ; our 
pleasant month is June, and the whip-poor-will is our bird of love. 
The months of June, July, and August are usually delightful ; 
and in October and November we have the Indian summer. 
The temperature is then soft and agreeable, and a pleasing haze 
fills the atmosphere. Sometimes the sky is ' darkly, deeply, 
beautifully blue ; ' and sunset is often so gorgeously glorious, 
that the art of the painter cannot portray it. The months of 
May and September usually abound with chilly rain storms, and 
dismal drizzly days. After these succeed the two pleasantest 
portions of the year. The cold season continues from December 
to April, and we have snow in each of these months, from three 
inches to three feet in depth. As winter approaches, the forests 
are arrayed in the most splendid and beautiful colors ; exhibiting 
almost every variety of shade, from pale green, and dark brown, 
to bright yellow and deep scarlet. Not only are single leaves 
thus colored, but whole trees and masses of foliage are vividly 
tinctured with the most pleasing and variegated hues. In winter, 
the weather is often, for many days together, exceedingly cold, 
and the moonlight most intensely brilliant. 




SUNRISE ON THE WATER. 



The unequal refraction of the atmosphere frequently occa- 
sions peculiar and curious appearances on the water. Some- 
times the sun, when it rises through a dense atmosphere, appears 



II I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . o7 

greatly elongated in its vertical diameter. Presently it appears 
double, the two parts being connected together by a neck. At 
length two suns are distinctly seen ; the refracted sun appearing 
wholly above the water, before the true sun has risen. I have 
repeatedly seen and admired this surprising and exceedingly 
beautiful phenomenon. Some critics, because Pentheus saw 
two suns rising over Thebes, have drawn the inference that 
he could not have been a member of the temperance society ; 
but his vision might have been merely assisted by refraction.* 
This mirage, or loom, frequently causes Nahant, Egg Rock, and 
vessels on the coast, to appear nearly twice their natural heiglit, 
and sometimes to seem actually elevated in the air, so as to 
leave a space beneath them. Portions of the south shore, also, 
which are commonly invisible, appear plainly in sight. 




THE PHANTOM SHIPS. 

It was undoubtedly this effect of the mirage which occasioned 
the story of the Phantom Ship at New Haven, and the Flying 
Dutchman. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, in the summer of 
1843, I saw several vessels sailing oft^ Nahant, reflected in the 
manner represented above. The atmosphere was dense, yet 
transparent, and there were several strata of thin vapory clouds 
lightly suspended over the water, on which the vessels were 
brightly mirrored. The refracted images were as clearly por- 
trayed as the real vessels beneath ; and a drawing can but im- 
perfectly represent the exceeding beauty of the mirage. 

The temperature of Nahant, being moderated by sea-breezes, 
so as to be cooler in summer and milder in winter, than the main 
land, is regarded as being highly conducive to health. It is de- 
hghtful in summer to ramble round this romantic peninsula, and 

* Etsolam geminum, et duplices se ostendere Thebas. 

Enead, 4, 470. 
He saw two suns, and double Thebes appear. 

Dryden's Vikgil. 



38 



HISTORY OF LYNN, 



to examine at leisure its interesting curiosities — to hear the 
waves npphng the colored pebbles of the beaches, and see them 
ghding over the projecting ledges in fanciful cascades — to be- 
hold the p overs and sand pipers running along the beaches, the 
seal slumbernig upon the outer rocks, the white gulls soaring 
overhead the porpoises pursuing their rude gambols along the 
shore, and the curlew, the loon, the black duck, and the coot — 
the brant, with his dappled neck, and the oldwife, with her 
strange, wild, vocal melody, swimming gracefully in the coves 
and rising and sinking with the swell of the tide. The moon- 
light evenings here are exceedingly lovely; and the phosphoric 
radiance of the billows, in dark nights, making the waters look 
hke a sea of fire, — exhibits a scene of wonderful beauty 

But, however delightful Nahant may appear in summer, it is 
surpassed by the grandeur and sublimity of a winter storm When 
the strong east wind has been sweeping over the Atlantic for sev- 
eral days, and the billows, wrought up to fury, are foaming along 
like living mountams— breaking upon the precipitous chffs — 
dashing into the rough gorges, —thundering in the subterranean 
caverns of rock, and throwing the white foam and spray, hke vast 
columns of smoke, hundreds effect into the air, above the tallest 
cliffs, — an appearance is presented which the wildest imacrina- 
tion cannot surpass. Then the ocean — checked in its headlong 
career by a simple bar of sand — as if mad with its detention 
roars like protracted thunder; and the wild sea-birds borne 
rS^", ^l the furious waters, are dashed to death against the 
clihs . Standing at such an hour upon the rocks, I have seen 
the waves bend bars of iron, an inch in diameter, double — float 
rocks of granite, sixteen feet in length, as if they were timbers 
ot wood, — and the wind, seizing the white jrull in its irresistible 
embrace, bear her, shrieking, many miles into the Lynn woods • 
In summer, a day at Nahant is dehghtful — but a storm in winter 
IS glorious ! 




CHAPTER 11. 

Early Voyasres and Discoveries — Nahant granted to Robert Gorges — Indians at 
Lynn — Kanapashemet, the great Moon Chief, and hi? Wars — Montowampate 
and Wenepoykin, Sagamores of Lynn — Story of Wennchus, the Sachem's 
Bride — Poquannm, Sagamore of Nahant — Belles of the Forest — Indian Cus- 
toms— A. D. 9St3 to 162S. 

Truth is strange, stranger than fiction. 

Hbney Neale. 

T would be extremely gratifying, if we could 
roll back the veil of oblivion which shrouds 
the early history of the American continent, 
and through the sunlight which must once 
have illumined those regions of now impene- 
trable darkness, behold the scenery, and trace 
the events, which occupied that long space 
of silence or activity. Has one half of this 
great globe slumbered in unprofitable and 
inglorious uselessness since the morning of 
the creation, serving no other purpose than to balance the oppo- 
site portion in its revolutions through unvarying ages? — or has 
it been peopled by innumerable nations, enjoying all the vicissi- 
tudes of animal and intellectual life? 

The most strenuous advocates of the priority of the claim of 
Columbus to the discovery of America, admit that he found 
people here — and we can look back with certainty to no period, 
however remote, in which we do not find the continent inhabited. 
How came those people here ? Were they the descendants of a 
cis-atlantic Adam ? — or did they find their way, by accident or 
design, from the eastern continent? If the latter supposition 
be the most probable, then a corresponding accident or design 
might have returned some of those daring adventurers to their 
homes, and thus a knowledge have been conveyed of the exist- 
ence of another continent. Nor are the difficulties of a passage, 
either from Europe or Asia, so great as may at first be supposed. 
The continent of Asia approaches withm fifty miles of the 
northwest coast of America; and ships which traded from Ice- 
land to the Levant, might easily have sailed from Greenland 
along the shore of New England. People were much more 



40 H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N , 

venturous in early days than we are generally willing to allow ; 
and canoes might have passed across the ocean from Japan, and 
even by the isles of the Pacific — as it is evident they must 
have done, to people those islands. When Captain Blighe was 
cast adrift by Christian, he passed twelve hundred miles in an 
open boat with safety. Why might not such an event have 
happened three thousand years ago, as well as yesterday ? 

The Scandinavian manuscripts inform us, that in tire year 
986, Eric the Red, an Icelandic prince, emigrated to Greenland. 
In his company was Bardson, whose son Biarne was then on a 
voyage to Norway. On his return, going in search of his father, 
he was driven far to sea, and discovered an unknown country. 
In the year 1000, Leif, a son of Eric, pursued the discovery of 
the new country, and sailed along the coast as far as Rhode 
Island, where he made a settlement; and because he found 
grapes there, he called it Vineland. In 1002, Thorwald, his 
brother, went to VineJand, where he remained two years. 

It is very reasonable to suppose that these voyagers, in sailing 
along the coast, discovered Lynn, and it is even probable that 
they landed at Nahant. In 1004, we are informed that Thor- 
wald, leaving Vineland, or Rhode Island, ' sailed eastward, and 
then northward, past a remarkable headland, enclosing a bay, 
and which was opposite to another headland. They called it 
Kialarnes, or Keel-cape,' from its resemblance to the keel of a 
ship. There is no doubt that this was Cape Cod ; and as they 
had no map, and could not see Cape Ann, it is probable that the 
other headland was the Gurnet. ' From thence, they sailed 
along the eastern coast of the land to a promontory which there 
projected, (probably Nahant,) and which was every where 
covered with wood. Here Thorwald went ashore, with all his 
companions. He was so pleased with the place, that he ex- 
claimed — "Here it is beautiful I and here I should like to fix 
my dweUing I " Afterwards, when they were prepared to go on 
board, they observed on the sandy beach, within the promontory, 
three hillocks. They repaired thither, and found three canoes, 
and under each three skrellings, (Indians.) They came to blows 
with them, and killed eight of them, but the ninth escaped in 
his canoe. Afterwards a countless multitude of them came out 
from the interior of the bay, against them. They endeavored 
to protect themselves by raising battle screens on the ship's 
side. The skrellings continued shooting at them for a while, 
and then retired. Thorwald had been wounded by an arrow 
under the arm. When he found that the wound was mortal, he 
said — " I now advise you to prepare for your departure as soon 
as possible ; but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I 
thought it good to dwell. It may be that it was a prophetic 
word which fell from my mouth, about my abiding there for a 



HISTORY OFLYNN. 41 

season. There ye shall bury me ; and plant a cross at my head, 
and also at my feet, and call the place Krossanes in all time 
coming." He died, and they did as he had ordered ; afterward 
they returned.' * 

The question has arisen whether Krossanes, the Promontory 
of the Cross, was Nahant or Gurnet Point. There is nothing 
remarkable about the latter place, and though so long a 
time has passed, no person has thought it desirable to dwell 
there, but it is used as a sheep pasture. It is far otherwise with 
Nahant, which answers to the description well. An early writer 
says that it was * well wooded with oaks, pines, and cedars ; ' 
and it has a ' sandy beach within the promontory.' Thousands 
also, on visiting it, have borne witness to the appropriateness of 
Thorwald's exclamation — 'Here it is beautiful I and here I 
should like to fix my dwelling I ' 

If the authenticity of the Scandinavian manuscripts be 
admitted, the Northmen, as the people of Norway, Denmark, 
and Sweden are called, visited this country repeatedly, in the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries; but if they made any settle- 
ments, they were probably destroyed in some of the numerous 
wars of the aborigines. The Welsh Triads and Chronicles, 
those treasures of historic and Bardic lore, inform ns, that in 
1170, Madoc, Prince of Wales, on the tyrannous usurpation of 
his brother David, came to America, with a party of his follow- 
ers, and settled a colony. I see no reason to doubt this record 
— but if there were no descendants of Welshmen in America 
then, there are plenty now. 

Alonzo Sanchez, of Huelva, in Spain, in a small vessel with 
seventeen men, as we are informed by De la Vega, was driven 
on the American coast in 1487. He returned with only five 
men, and died at the house of Columbus. 

In 1492, the immortal Columbus made his first voyage to 
South America, but he did not come to North America imtil 
1498. 

In 1497, Sebastian Caliot, a bold and enterprizing English- 
man, visited the coast of North America, and took possession of 
it, in the name of his king, Henry VII. 

In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold visited our shores. He dis- 
covered land on Friday, the fourteenth of May, at six o'clock in 
the morning.t Sailing along by the shore, at noon, he anchored 
near a place which he called ' Savage Bock,' and which many 
have supposed to have been Nahant.t A sail-boat went off to 
them, containing eight Indians, dressed in deer-skins, excepthig 
their chief, who wore a complete suit of English clothes, which 

* Anliqnitates Amcrican8e,xxx. f Purchas' Pilgrim, vol. 4. p. 1647. | Ban- 
croft's U S. vol. l,p. 112. 

6 



4S HISTORY OF LYNN. 

he obtained by trading at the eastward. The Indians treated 
them kindly, and desired their longer stay ; but they left them 
about three in the afternoon,* and sailing southerly, 'six- 
teen leagues/ the next morning they found themselves just 
within Cape Cod. Archer's account of the voyage says 
— ' The Coast we left was full of goodly Woods, faire Plaines, 
with little green, round Hils above the Clifis appearing unto vs, 
which are indiflerently raised, but all Rockie, and of shining 
stones, which might have perswaded vs a longer stay there.' 
This answers well to the appearances at Nahant ; but some have 
supposed Savage Rock to be somewhere on the coast of Maine. 
There is, however, no spot on that coast which answers exactly 
to the description ; and Judge Williamson, the historian of 
Maine, says — ' We have doubts whether Gosnold ever saw 
any land of ours.' t 

In 160.3, Martin Pring, came over with two vessels, the Speed- 
well and Discoverer, to obtain sassafras, an article at that time 
in great demand in England. He says — ' Coming to the Maine 
in latitude 43 degrees, we ranged the same to the southwest. 
Meeting with no sassafras, we left those places, with all the 
aforesaid islands, shaping our course for Savage Rocke, discov- 
ered the yeare before by Captain Gosnold ; where, going upon 
the Mayne, we found people, with whom we had no long con- 
versation, because we could find no sassafras. Departing thence, 
we bare into that great gulf, (Cape Cod Bay,) which Captain 
Gosnold overshot the yeare before, coasting and finding people 
on the north side thereof; yet not satisfied with our expectation, 
we left them and sailed over, and came to anchor on the south 
side.' t Other voyagers doubtless visited our coast, but as places 
were unnamed, and the language of the natives unknown, little 
information can be gained from their descriptions. 



Thus far we have pursued our way through the shadows 
which envelope the whole early history of the American con- 
tinent. We have now come to a period when the indications of 
truth give place to certainty ; when the shadows disappear, and 
the sun of civilization and refinement begins to dawn brightly 
upon us. We have now particulars enough, perhaps, to satisfy 
the most fastidious — certainly more than any other people on 
earth. 

The next white man who appears at Nahant, was that daunt- 
less hero and enterprizing statesman. Captain John Smith. 

* Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. 27. f Hist. Maine, vol. 1, p. 1S5. f Purchas, vol. 4, 
p. 16.54. 



IIISTORYOFLYNN. 43 

Having established the colony of Virginia, he came north, in 
1614, made a survey of the whole coast, and published a map. 
In his description of the islands of Massachusetts Bay, proceed- 
ing westward from Naumkeag, now Salem, he says — 'The 
next I can remember by name are the Mattahunts, two pleasant 
Isles of Groves, Gardens and Corntields, a league in the sea from 
the Maine. The Isles of Mattahunts are on the west side of 
this bay, where are many Isles, and some Rocks, that appear a 
great height above the water, like the Pieramides of Egypt.' * 
It is evident, that by the Mattahunts he meant the Nahants, the 
pronunciation of which, })erha[)S, he imperfectly ' remembered.' 
His delineation of these islands on the map, though very small, 
is very correct ; and he named them the ' Fullerton Islands,' 
probably from the name of the surveyor, or some other friend. 
He appears to have examined the islands and shores attentively. 
He says, ' The coast of Massachusetts is so indifferently mixed 
with high clay or sandy clifts in one place, and the tracts of 
large, long ledges of divers sorts, and quarries of stones in other 
places, so strangely divided with tinctured veines of divers 
colours, as free stone for building, slate for tyling, smooth stone 
for making Furnaces and Forges for Glasse and Iron, and Iron 
ore sufficient conveniently to melt in them . . . who will 
undertake the rectifying of an Iron Forge, in my opinion cannot 
lose.'* As the beds of iron in Saugus had not then been dis- 
covered, he probably mistook the hornblende ledge on the north 
of Nahant, for a mine of iron ore. 

The Nahants appear to have been admired and coveted by 
all who visited them. On the twentieth of December, 1622, we 
find them granted by the council in England to Captain Robert 
Gorges. He came over in 1623, took possession of his lands, 
and probably commenced a settlement at Winnisimet, which 
was also included in his grant. 

' The said Councill grant unto Robert Gorges, youngest son of 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, and liis heires, all that |)art of 
the Maine land in New England, commonly called and known 
by the name of the Massachusetts, scytuate and lyeing vpon 
the North East side of the Bay, called and known by the name 
of the Massachusetts, or by whatever name or names whatso- 
ever called, with all coastcs and shoares along the Sea for Ten 
English Miles in a straight line towards the North East, account- 
ing scaventeen hundred and sixty yards to the mile ; and 30 
English miles, after the same rate, into the Mayne Land, through 
all the breadth aforesaid ; togeathcr with all Islands so lyeinge 
within 3 miles of any part of the said land. 

' Robert Gorges dies without issue ; the said lands descend to 

* Smith's New England. 



44 HISTORYOFLYNN. 

John Gorges, his eldest brother. John Gorges, by deed bearing 
date 20 January, 1628-9, (4 Car. I.) grants to Sir WilUam Brere- 
ton, of Handforth, in the county of Chester, Baronet, and his 
heires, all the lande, in breadth lyeinge from the East side of 
Charles Kiverto the Easterly parte of the Cape called Nahannte, 
and all the lands lyeinge in length 20 miles northeast into the 
Maine land, from the mouth of the said Charles River, lyeinge 
also in length 20 miles into the Maine land from the said Cape 
Nahannte ; also two Islands, lyeinge next unto the shoare 
between Nahannte and Charles River, the bigger called Brere- 
ton, and the lesser Susanna.' * 

' Sir William Brereton dyes, leaving Thomas, his only son, 
afterward Sir Thomas, and Susanna his daughter. Sir Thomas 
dyes without issue. Susanna marries Edward Lenthall, Esq., 
and dyes, leaving Mary, her only daughter and heire. Mary is 
married to Mr. Levett of the Inner Temple, who claymes the 
said Lands in right of Mary his wife, who is heire to Sir Wil- 
liam Brereton and Sir Thomas Brereton. 

' Sir William Brereton sent over Severall familyes and Serv- 
ants, who possessed and Improved severall Large tracts of the 
said Lands, and made Severall Leases, as appeares by the said 
Deedes.' t 

A portion of these lands was granted by Captain Gorges to 
John Oldham, including Nahant and part of Saugus. In a let- 
ter from the Council in England to Governor Endecott, dated 
April 17, 1629, we find as follows, ' Mr. Oldham's grant from 
Mr. Gorges, is to him and John Dorrell, for all the lands within 
Massachusetts Bay, between Charles River and Ahousett River; 
Containing in length by streight lyne 5 Miles vp the Charles 
River into the Maine Land, northeast from the border of said 
Bay, including all Creekes and Points by the Avay, and 3 Myles 
in Length from the Mouth of the foresaid River Ahousett, vp 
into the Maine Land N. W. including all Creekes and Points, 
and all the Land in Breadth and Length between the foresaid 
Rivers, with all prerogatives, royall Mynes excepted.' % The 
writer of this letter, in reference to the claim of Oldham, says, 
' I hold it void in law,' and advises Mr. Endecott to take posses- 
sion. Such possession was taken of the Nahants, as will be 
seen in proceeding; and though the heirs of Gorges afterward 
renewed their claim, the colony declined either to relinquish or 
pay ; because Gorges, after being appointed to the government, 
had relinquished the possession and returned to England. 

* These two islands were East Boston and Belle Isle. f Mass. Archives. 
X Hazard's Collections. 



H I S T O U y O F L Y N N . 45 

Before -we proceed with the history of the Whites, it will he 
interesting to learn something more respecting the Red Men. 
Come, sit with me in the pleasant shade, and I will tell you 
their story. 

The emigrants from England found the country inhabited by 
a people who were called Indians, because when first discov- 
ered, the country was supposed to be a part of India. They 
were divided into several great nations, each of which consisted 
of many tribes. Lechford says — 'They were governed by 
sachems, kings, and sagamores, petty lords;' but Smith, Avho 
was here before him, calls them 'sagamos;' and as the Indians, 
in this neighborhood at least, had no r in their language, he is 
probably correct. The word sachem, pronounced saivkvm 
by the Indians, is a word meaning great strength, or power ; 
and the word sachemo, or sagamo, evidently has the same 
deriviation. Their plural was formed in uog ; Sagamore Hill, 
therefore, is the same as Sachemuog Hill, or the Hill of Kings. 

There appear to have been as many as seven nations in 
New England. The ever-warring Taratines inhabited the east- 
ern part of Maine, beyond the Penobscot river ; and their great 
sachem was Nultonanit. From the Penobscot to the Pascataqua 
were the Chur-churs, formerly governed by a mighty chief, 
called a Bashaba. The Pavvtuckets had a great dominion, 
reaching from the Pascataqua to the river Charles, and extend- 
ing north as far as Concord, on the Merrimac. Their name is 
preserved in Pawtucket Falls, at Lowell. They were governed 
by Nanapashemet, who sometime resided at Lynn, and, accord- 
ing to Gookin, could raise three thousand warriors. The Mas- 
sachusetts, so named from the Blue Hills at Milton, were gov- 
erned by Chickataubut, who also commanded three thousand 
men. His dominion was bounded on the north and west by 
Charles river, and on the south extended to Weymouth and 
Canton. The Wampanoags occupied the southeastern part of 
Massachusetts, from Cape Cod to Narraganset Bay. They 
were ruled by Massasoit, whose chief residence was at Pokan- 
oket, now Bristol, in Pvhode Island. He was a sachem of great 
power, having dominion over thirty-two tribes, and could have 
brought three thousand warriors into the field, by a word ; yet 
he was a man of peace, and a friend to the English, and during 
all the provocations and disturbances of that early period, he 
governed his nation in tranquillity for more than forty years, 
leaving an example of wisdom to future ages. The Narragan- 
sets, on the west of Narraganset Bay, in Pvhode Island, num- 
bered five thousand Avarriors, and were governed by two 
sachems, Canonicus and his nephew Miantonimo, who ruled 
together in harmony. The Pequots occupied Connecticut, and 
were governed by Sassacus, a name of terror, who commanded 



46 HISTORYOFLYNN. 

four thousand fighting men, and whose residence was at New 
London. Beside these, there were the Nipmucks in the interior 
of Massachusetts, who had no great sachem, but united with 
the other nations in their wars, according to their inchnation. 
The Pequots and the Taratines were ever at war with some of 
the other nations, and were the Goths and Vandals of New 
England. 

The Indians were very numerous, until they were reduced by 
a great war, and by a devastating sickness. All the early voy- 
agers speak of ' multitudes,' and ' countless multitudes.' Smith, 
who took his survey in 1614, passing along the shore in a little 
boat, says — 'The seacoast as you pass, shows you all along, 
large corne fields, and great troupes of well proportioned peo- 
ple ; ' and adds, that there were three thousand on the islands in 
Boston harbor. Gookin has enumerated eighteen thousand 
warriors in five nations, and if the remainder were as populous, 
there must have been twenty-five thousand fighting men, and 
at least one hundred thousand people, in New England. In the 
spring of 1615, some provocation was given by the western 
Indians to the Taratines, who, with a vindictive spirit, resolved 
upon retaliation; and they carried their revenge to an extent 
scarcely paralleled in the dreadful history of human warfare. 
They killed the great Bashaba of Penobscot, murdered his 
women and children, and overran the whole country from 
Penobscot to the Blue Hills. Their death-word was ' cram I 
cram I ' — kill I kill I — and so efl^ectually did they ' suit the action 
to the word,' and so many tliousands on thousands did they 
slaughter, that as Gorges says, it was 'horrible to be spoken 
of!' In 1617, commenced a great sickness, which some have 
supposed was the plague, others the small pox, or yellow fever ; 
but I have no doubt it arose from the putrefaction of the 
unburied dead. This sickness made such dreadful devastation 
among those whom the tomahawk had not reached, that when 
the English arrived, the land was literally covered with human 
bones. Still the vengeance of the Taratines was unsatiated, 
and we find them hunting for the lives of the few Sagamores 
who remained I 

Nanatashemet, or the New Moon, was one of the greatest 
sachems in New England, ruling over a larger extent of country 
than any other. He swayed, at one time, all the tribes north 
and east of the Charles river, to the river Pascataqua. The 
Nipmucks acknowledged his dominion, as far as ' Pocontocook,' 
now Deerfield, on the Connecticut; and after his death they 
had no great sachem.* Nanapashemet, hke the orb of night, 



* Smith, Gookin, Hubbard. See also Samuel G. Drake's interestintr Book of 
the Indians, published since mv first edition, wherein he has accumulated a vast 
amount of facts respecting the Sons of the Forest. 



niSTORTOFLTNN. 47 

whose name he bore, had risen and shone in splendor. But 
his Moon was now full, and had begun to wane. He resided at 
Lynn until the great war of the Taratines in 1615. He then 
retreated to a hill on the borders of Mistick river, where he built 
a house, and fortified himself in the best manner possible. He 
survived the desolating sickness of 1617; but the deadly ven- 
geance of the Taratines, which induced them to stop at nothing 
short of his death, pursued him to his retreat, and there he was 
killed by them in 1619. In September, 1621, a party of the 
Plymouth people, having made a visit to Obatinua, sachem of 
Boston, went up to Medford. Mr. Winslow says : ' Having 
gone three miles, we came to a place where corn had been 
newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone. 
A mile from hence, Nanapashemet, their king, in his lifetime 
had lived. His house was not like others ; but a scaffold was 
largely built, with poles and plauks, some six foot from the 
ground, and the house upon that, being situated upon the top of 
a hill. Not far from hence, in a bottom, we came to a fort, built 
by their deceased king — the manner thus : There were poles, 
some thirty or forty feet long, stuck in the ground, as thick as 
they could be set one by another, and with those they enclosed a 
ring some forty or fifty feet over. A trench, breast high, was 
digged on each side ; one way there was to get into it with a 
bridge. In the midst of this palisade stood the frame of a house, 
wherein, being dead, he lay buried. About a mile from hence 
we came to such another, but seated on the top of an hill. 
Here Nanapashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the 
time of his death.' The care which the great Moon Chief took 
to fortify himself, shows the fear which he felt for his mortal 
enemy. With his death, the vengeance of the Taratines seems 
in some degree to have abated ; and his sons, returning to the 
shore, collected the scattered remnants of their tribes, over 
whom they ruled as sagamores on the arrival of our fathers. 
The general government was continued by the saunks, or queen 
of Nanapashemet, who was called ' Squaw Sachem.' She 
married Webbacowet, who was the great physician of her 
nation. On the fourth of September, 1640, she sold Mistick 
Ponds, and a large tract of land, now included in Summcrville, 
to Jotham Gibl)ons of Boston. On the eighth of March, 1644, 
she submitted to the government of the whites, and consented 
to have her subjects instructed in the Bible. She died in 1667, 
being then old and blind. Nanapashemet had three sons, 
Wonohaquaham, Montowampatc, and Wenepoykin, all of whom 
became sagamores ; and a daughter Yawata. 

Wonohaquaham was sagamore on Mistick river, including 
Winnisimet. In 1627 he gave the whites liberty to settle at 
Charlestown, and on the records of that town he is called a 



48 H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 

chief 'of gentle and good disposition.' He was called by the 
English, John, and died in 1633. 

MoNTOWAMPATE, saganiorc of Lynn, was born in the year 
1G09. He lived on Sagamore Hill, near the northern end of 
the Long Beach. He had jurisdiction of Saugus, Naumkeag, 
and Masabequash, or Lynn, Salem and Marblehead. He was 
called by the white people, James. Mr. Dudley, in his letter to 
the Countess of Lincoln, says : * Vppon the river of Mistick, is 
seated Saggamore John, and vppon the river of Saugus Saga- 
more James, both soe named from the English. The elder 
brother John, is a handsome young .... (one line wanting) 
. . . conversant with us, affecting English apparel and houses, 
and speaking well of our God. His brother James is of a far 
worse disposition, yet repaireth to us often.' He married 
Wenuchus, a daughter of Passaconaway, the great powah, or 
priest of the nation ; whose chief residence was at Penacook, 
now Concord, on the Merriraac. This venerable, and in some 
respects, wonderful man, died about the year 1673, when he was 
one hundred and twenty years of age. On his death bed, he 
called his friends around, and told that he was going to the land 
of spirits, to see them no more. He said he had been opposed 
to the English at their first coming, and sought to prevent their 
settlement; but now he advised them to oppose the white men 
no more, or they would all be destroyed. The marriage of 
Montowampate took place in the year 1629, when he was 
twenty years of age ; and it gave him an opportunity to mani- 
fest his high sense of the dignity which appertained to a sachem. 
Thomas Morton, who was in the country at the time, and wrote 
a w^ork entitled the New English Canaan, furnishes us with the 
following interesting particulars. 

' The sachem or sagamore of Sagus, made choice, when he 
came to man's estate, of a lady of noble descent, daughter of 
Pasaquineo, the sachem or sagamore of the territories near 
Merrimack river, a man of the best note in all those parts, and 
as my countryman, INIr. Wood, declares, in his Prospect, a great 
nigromancer. This lady, the young sachem, with the consent 
and good liking of her father, marries, and takes for his wife. 
Great entertainment hec and his received in tliosc parts, at her 
fatlier's hands, wheare they were festcd in the best manner that 
might be expected, according to the custome of their nation, 
with reveling, and such other solemnities as is usual amongst 
them. The solemnity being ended, Papasiquineo caused a 
selected number of his men to waitc on his daughter home into 
those parts that did properly belong to her lord and husband; 
where the attendants had entertainment by the sachem of Sagus 
and his countrymen. The solemnity being ended, the atten- 
dants were gratified. 



HISTORY OFLYNN. 49 

' Not long after, the new married lady had a great desire to 
see her father and her native country, from whence she came. 
Her lord was willing to pleasure her, and not deny her re- 
quest, amongst them thought to be reasonable, commanded 
a select number of his own men to conduct his lady to 
her father, where with great respect they brought her ; and 
having feasted there awhile, returned to their own country 
againe, leaving the lady to continue there at her owne pleasure, 
amongst her friends and old acquaintance, where she passed 
away the time for awhile, and in the end desired to returne to 
her Lord againe. Her father, the old Papasiquineo, having 
notice of her intent, sent some of his men on ambassnge to the 
young sachem, his sonne in law, to let him understand that his 
daughter was not willing to absent herself from his company 
any longer; and therefore, as the messengers had in charge, 
desired the younge lord to send a convoy for her ; but he, stand- 
ing upon tearmes of honor, and the maintaining of his reputa- 
tion, returned to his father in law this answer : " That when she 
departed from him, hee caused his men to waite upon her to her 
father's territories as it did become him ; but now she had an 
intent to returne, it did become her father to send her back with 
a convoy of his own people ; and that it stood not with his 
reputation to make himself or his men so servile as to fetch her 
againe." 

' The old sachem, Papasiquineo, having this message returned, 
was inraged to think that his young son in law did not esteem 
him at a higher rate than to capitulate with him about the mat- 
ter, and returned him this sharp reply : " That his daughter's 
blood and birth deserved more respect than to be slighted, and 
therefore, if he would have her company, he were best to send 
or come for her." 

' The young sachem, not willing to undervalue himself, and 
being a man of a stout spirit, did not stick to say, " That he 
should either send her by his own convoy, or keepe her ; for he 
was determined not to stoope so lowe." 

' So much these two sachems stood upon tearmes of reputa- 
tion with each other, the one would not send for her, lest it 
should be any diminishing of honor on his part that should 
seeme to comply, that the lady, when I came out of the coun- 
try remained still with her father ; which is a thing worth the 
noting, that salvage people should seeke to maintaine their repu- 
tation so much as they doe.' 

A chief who could treat a lady so discourteously deserved to 
lose her. Montowampate had not the felicity to read the Fairy 
Queen, or he would have thought with Spenser : 



• What vertue is so fitting for a Knight, 
Or for a Ladie whom a knight should 1 
As ourtesie ' 



As ourtesie 
7 



50 H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 

My lady readers will undoubtedly be anxious to know if the 
separation was final? I am happy to inform them that it was 
not ; as we find the Princess of Penacook enjoying the luxuries 
of the shores and the sea breezes at Lynn the next summer. 
How they met without compromiting the dignity of the proud 
sagamore, history does not inform us ; but probably, as ladies 
are fertile in expedients, she met him half way. In 1631 she 
was taken prisoner by the Taratines, as will hereafter be related. 
Montowampate died in 1633. Wenuchus returned to her father ; 
and in 1686, we find mention made of her grand-daughter Pah- 
pocksit. Other interesting incidents in the life of Montowam- 
pate will be found in the following pages. 

Wenepoykin, erroneously called Winnepurkit, was the 
youngest son of Nanapashemet. His name was pronounced 
with an accent and a lingering on the third syllable, We-ne- 
pawwe-kin. He was born in 1616, and was a little boy, thirteen 
years of age, when the white men came. The Rev. John Hig- 
ginson, of Salem, says : ' To the best of my remembrance, when 
I came over with my father, to this place, there was in these 
parts a widow woman, called Squaw Sachem, who had three 
sons ; Sagamore John kept at Mistick, Sagamore James at Sau- 
gus, and Sagamore George here at Naumkeke. Whether he 
was actual sachem here I cannot say, for he was then young, 
about my age, and I think there was an elder man that was at 
least his guardian.' On the death of his brothers, in 1633, he 
became sagamore of Lynn and Chelsea; and after the death of 
his mother in 1667, he was sachem of all that part of Massachu- 
setts which is north and east of Charles River. He was the 
proprietor of Deer Island, which he sold to Boston. He was 
called Sagamore George, and George Rumney Marsh. Until 
the year 1738, the limits of Boston extended to Saugus, includ- 
ing Chelsea, which was called Rumney Marsh. Part of this 
great marsh is now in Chelsea and part in Saugus. The Indians 
living on the borders of this marsh in Lynn and Saugiis, were 
sometimes called the Rumney Marsh Indians. Wenepoykin 
was taken prisoner in the Wampanoag war in 1676, and died in 
1684. He married Ahawayet, daughter of Poquanum, who 
lived on Nahant. She presented him with one son, Manatahqua, 
and three daughters, Petagunsk, Wattaquattinusk, and Peta- 
goonaquah, who if early historians are correct in their descrip- 
tions, were as beautiful, almost, as the lovely forms which have 
wandered on the rocks of Nahant in later times. They were 
called Wanapanaquin, or the ])lumed ones. This word is but 
another spelling of AVenepawakin, their father's name, which 
signifies a wing or a feather. I suppose they were the belles 
of the forest in their day, and wore finer plumes than any of their 
tribe. Petagunsk was called Cicely. She had a son Tontoquon, 




.Bel k\s 01 iJic t''oi'(" Hi 

Indian Frirtcesses. 

DaughCers oi tlxf last X.yim- Saf^airuire 



J,,t/,ui/r,iphei! for il,e- Huipry <ij l.ifn 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 51 

called John. Wuttaquattinusk, or the Little Walnut, was called 
Sarah; and Petagoonaqnah was named Susannah. Manatahqna 
had two sons, Nonupanohow, called David; and Wiitlauoh, 
which means a stafl^, called Samuel. The family of Wenepoy- 
kin left Lynn about the time of the Wampanoag war, and went 
to Wameset, or Chelmsford, now Lowell, and settled near the 
Pawtucket Falls. On the sixteenth of September, 1684, imme- 
diately after the death of Wenepoykin, the people of Marble- 
head embraced the opportunity of obtaining a deed of their 
town. It was signed by Ahawayet, and many others, her rela- 
tives. She is called ' Joane Ahawayet, Squawe, relict, widow 
of George Saggamore, alias Wenepawweekin.' * She survived 
her husband about a year, and died in 1685. On the nineteenth 
of March, I680, David Nouupanohow, ' heir of Sagamore George, 
and in his right having some claim to Deer Island, doth hereby, 
for just consideration, relinquish his right to the town of Boston. 't 
On the eleventh of October, 1686, the people of Salem obtained 
a deed of their town, which was signed by the relatives of 
Wenepoykin. 

Yawata, daughter of Nanapashenut, and sister of the three 
Sagamores, married Oonsumog. She lived to sign the deed of 
Salem in 1686, and died at Natick. She had a son, Mumin- 
quash, born in 1636, and called James Rumney Marsh, who also 
removed to Natick. There is great softness and euphony in the 
name of tliis Indess. Ya-wa-ta ; six letters, and only one hard 
consonant. Probably her heart was at delicate and feminine as 
her name. The early settlers indicated their poetic taste by 
calling her Abigail. 

PoQUANUM, or ' Dark Skin,' was sachem of Nahant. Wood, 
in his New England's Prospect, calls him ' Duke William ; ' and 
it appears by depositions in Salem Court Records, that he was 
known by the familiar appellation of ' Black Will.' He was 
cotemporary with Nanapashemet. In 1630 he sold Nahant to 
Thomas Dexter for a suit of clothes. It is probable that he was 
the chief who welcomed Gosnold in 1602, and who is repre- 
sented to have been dressed in a complete suit of English 
clothes. If he were the same, that may have been the reason 
why he was so desirous to possess another suit. He was killed 
in 1633, as will he found under that date. He had two chil- 
dren — Ahawayet, who married Wenepoykin ; and Queakussen, 
commonly called ' Captain Tom,' or Thomas Poquanum, who 
was born in 1611. Mr. Gookin, in 1686, says, ' He is an Indian 
of good repute, and professes the Christian religion.' Probably 
he is the one alluded to by Rev. John Eliot, in his letter, 
November 13, 1649, in which he says: 'Linn Indians are all 

* Essex Reg. Deeds, 11, 132. f Suffolk Records. 



/ 



52 HISTOK.YOFLYNN. 

naught, save one, who sometimes cometh to hear the word, and 
telleth me that he prayeth to God ; and the reason why they are 
bad is partly and principally because their sachem is naught, and 
careth not to pray to God.' There is a confession of faitli, pre- 
served in Eliot's ' Tears of Repentance,' by Poquanum, probably 
of this same Indian. He signed the deed of Salem in 1686, and 
on the seventeenth of September in that year, gave the following 
testimony : 

' Thomas Queakussen, alias Captain Tom, Indian, now living 
at Wamesit, neare Patucket Falls, aged about seventy-five years, 
testifieth and saith, That many yeares since, when he was a 
youth, he lived with his father, deceased, named Poquannum, 
who some time lived at Sawgust, now called Linn ; he married 
a second wife, and lived at JMahant ; and himself in after time 
lived about Mistick, and that he well knew all these parts about 
Salem, Marblehead and Linn ; and that Salem, and the river 
running up between that neck of land and Bass river was called 
Nanmkeke, and the river between Salem and Marblehead was 
called Massabequash ; also he says he well knew Sagamore 
George, who married the Deponent's Owne Sister, named Joane, 
who died about a yeare since ; and Sagamore George left two 
daughters, named Sicilye and Sarah, and two grand-children by 
his son ; Nonumpanumhow the one called David, and the other 
Wuttanoh; and I myself am one of their kindred as before; 
and James Rumney Marsh's mother is one of Sagamore George, 
his kindred; and I knew two squawes more, living now about 
Pennecooke, one named Pahpocksitt, and the other's name I 
know not; and I knew the grandmother of these two squawes 
named Wenuchus; she was a principal proprietor of these lands 
about Naumkege, now Salem ; all these persons above named 
are concerned in the antient property of the lands above men- 
tioned.' Wabaquin also testified, that David was the grandson 
of Sagamore George — by his father, deceased, Manatahqua.' * 

Nahanton was born about the year 1600. On the seventh 
of April, 1635, ' Nahanton ' was ordered by the Court to pay Rev. 
William Blackstone of Boston, two beaver skins, for damage 
done to his swine by setting traps. In a deposition taken at 
Natick, August 15, 1672, he is called ' Old Ahaton of Punkapog, 
aged about seaventy yeares;' and in a deposition at Cambridge, 
October 7, 1686, he is called ' Old Mahanton, aged about ninety 
years.' In the same deposition he is called ' Nahanton.' He 
testifies concerning the right of the heirs of Wenepoykin to sell 
the lands at Salem, and declares himself a relative of^ Sagamore 
George. He signed the deed of Quincy, August 5, 1665, and in 
that deed is called ' Old Nahatun,' one of the ' wise men ' of 

* Essex Reg. Deed, 11, 131. 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



53 



Sao-araore Wampatnck.*' He also signed a quit claim deed to 
'the proprietated inhabitants of the town of Boston,' March 19, 

OuANOPKONAT, called John, was another relative of Winne- 
povkin His widow Joan, and his son James, signed the deed 
of "Salem in 1686. Masconomo was sagamore of Agawam, now 
Ipswich Dudley says, ' he was tributary to Sagamore James.' 
From the intimacy which subsisted between them, he was 
probably a relative. He died March 8, 1658, and his gun and 
other implements were buried with him t , , 

The names of the Indians are variously spelt m records and 
depositions, as they were imperfectly understood from their 
nasal pronoiinciation. Some of them were known by different 
names, and as they had no baptism, or ceremony of naming their 
children, they commonly received no name until it was fixed by 
some o-reat exploit, or some remarkable circumstance. 

The'' Indians have been admirably described by Wood, who 
resided at Lynn, at the first settlement. ' They were black 
haired, out nosed, broad shouldered, brawny armed, long and 
slender handed, out breasted, small waisted, lank bellied, well 
thio-hed, flat kneed, handsome grown legs, and small feet. In a 
word, they were more amiable to behold, though only m Adam s 
livery, than many a compounded fantastic in the newest fashion.' 
In another place he speaks of ' their unparalleled beauty.' Jos- 
selvn, in his New England Rarities, says : ' The women, many 
of them have very good features, seldome without a come-to- 
me in their countenance, all of them black eyed, having even 
short teeth and very white, their hair black, thick and long, 
broad breasted, handsome straight bodies and slender, their 
limbs cleanly straight, generally plump as a patridge, and sav- 
ing now and then one, of a modest deportment.' Lechford says : 
' The Indesses that are young, are some of them very comely, 
havino- good features. Many prettie Brownettos and spider 
fin'^ered lasses may be seen among them.' After such graphic 
and beautiful descriptions, nothing need be added to complete 
the idea that their forms were exquisitely perfect, superb, and 

voluptuous. 1 • J 1 

The dress of the men was the skin of a deer or seal tied round 
the waist, and in winter a bear or wolf skin thrown over the 
shoulders, with moccasons or shoes of moose hide. The women 
wore robes of beaver skins, with sleeves of deer skin drest, and 
drawn with lines of different colors into ornamental figures. 
Some wore a short mantle of trading cloth, blue or red, fastened 

* See the ori^^inal deed of Qiiincv. in the possession of Hon. .Tohn Qiiincy Adams, 
t Suflblk Records. J Rev. Joseph B. Felfs History of Ipswicli. 



54 HISTORYOFLYNN. 

with a knot under the chin, and girt around the waist with a 
zone ; their buskins fringed with feathers, and a fillet round 
their heads, which were often adorned with plumes. 

Their money was made of shells, gathered on the beaches, 
and was of two kinds. The one was called wampum peag, or 
white money, and was made of the twisted part of the conkle 
strung together like beads. Six of these passed for a penny, 
and a foot for about a shilling. The other was called suckauhoc, 
or black money, and was made of the hinge of the poquahoc 
clam, bored with a sharp stone. The value of this money was 
double that of the white. These shells were also very curiously 
wrought into pendants, bracelets, and belts of wampum, several 
inches in breadth, with figures of animals and flowers. Their 
sachems were profusely adorned with it, and some of the princely 
females wore dresses worth fifly or a hundred dollars. It passed 
for beaver and other commodities as currently as silver. 

Their weapons were bows, arrows and tomahawks. Their 
bows were made of walnut, or some other elastic wood, and 
strung with sinews of deer or moose. Their arrows were made 
of elder, and feathered with the quills of eagles. They were 
headed with a long sharp stone of porphyry or jasper, tied to a 
short stick, which was thrust into the pith of the elder. Their 
tomahawks were made of a flat stone, sharpened to an edge, 
with a groove round the middle. This was inserted in a bent 
walnut stick, the ends of which were tied together. The flinty 
heads of their arrows and axes, their stone gouges and pestles, 
have been frequently found in the fields. 

Their favorite places of residence in Lynn, appear to have 
been in the neighborhood of Sagamore Hill and High Rock, at 
Svvampscot, and Nahant. One of their burial places was on the 
hill where the school-house stands in Mount Vernon street. 
In Saugus, many indications of their dwellings have been 
found on the old Boston road, for about half a mile from 
the hotel westward ; and beneath the house of Mr. Ephraim 
Pi,hodes was a burying ground. On the road which runs north 
from Charles Sweetser's, was another Indian village on a plain, 
defended by a hill. Nature here formed a lovely spot, and 
nature's children occupied it. They usually buried their dead 
on the sides of hills next the sun. This was both natural and 
beautiful. It was the wish of Beattie's Minstrel. 

' Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, 
And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.' 

The Indians had but few arts, and only such as were requisite 
for their subsistence. Their houses, called wigwams, were rude 
structures, made of poles set round in the form of a cone, and 



HISTORYOFLYNN. 55 

covered by bark or mats. In winter, one great house, built with 
more care, with a fire in the middle, served for the accommoda- 
tion of many. They had two kinds of boats, called canoes ; the 
one made of a pine log, twenty to sixty feet in length, burnt and 
scraped out with shells ; the other made of birch bark, very light 
and elegant. They made fishing lines of wild hemp, equal to 
the finest twine, and used fish bones for hooks. Their method 
of catching deer was by making two fences of trees, half a mile 
in extent, in the form of an angle, with a snare at the place of 
meeting, in which they frequently took the deer alive. 

Their chief objects of cultivation were corn, beans, pumpkins, 
squashes and melons, which were all indigenous jjlants. Their 
fields were cleared by burning the trees in the autumn. Their 
season for planting was when the leaves of the oak were as 
large as the ear of a mouse. From this observation was formed 
the rule of the first settlers. 

"\\Tien the white oak trees look g-oslin grey, 
Plant then, be it April, June, or May. 

The corn was hoed with large clam shells, and harvested 
in cellars dug in the ground, and enclosed with mats. When 
boiled in kernels it was called samp ; when parched and pounded 
in stone mortars it was termed nokehike ; and when pounded 
and boiled, it was called hominy. They also boiled corn and 
beans together, which they called succatash. They formed 
earthen vessels in which they cooked. They made an excel- 
lent cake, by mixing strawberries with parched corn. Whortle- 
berries were employed in a similar manner. Some of their 
dishes are still well known, and highly relished — their samp, 
their hominy or hasty pudding, their stewed beans or succatash, 
their baked pumpkins, their parched corn, their boiled and roast 
ears of corn, and their wortleberry cake — dishes which, when 
well prepared, are good enough for any body. And when to 
these were added the whole range of field and flood, at a time 
when wild fowl and venison were more than abundant, it will 
be seen that the Indians lived well. 

The woods were filled with wild animals — foxes, bears, 
wolves, deer, moose, beaver, raccoons, rabbits, woodchucks, and 
squirrels — most of which have long since departed. One of the 
most troublesome animals was the catamount, one of the numer- 
ous varieties of the cat kind, which has never been particularly 
described. It was from three to six feet in length, and com- 
monly of a cinnamon color. Many stories are related of its attacks 
upon the early settlers, by climbing trees and leaping upon them 
when travelling through the forest. An Indian in passing through 
the woods one day, heard a rustling in the boughs overhead, and 



56 HISTORY OFLYNN. 

looking up, saw a catamount preparing to spring upon liini. He 
said he ' cry all one soosuck' — that is, like a child — knowing 
that if he did not kill the catamount, he must lose his own life. 
He fired as the animal was in the act of springing, which met 
the ball and fell dead at his feet. 

The wild pigeons are represented to have been so numerous 
that they passed in flocks so large as to ' obscure the light.' 
Dudley says, ' it passeth credit if but the truth should be known ;' 
and Wood says, they continued flying for four or five hours 
together, to such an extent that one coidd see ' neither begin- 
ning nor ending, length nor breadth, of these millions of millions.' 
When they alighted in the woods, they frequently broke down 
large limbs of trees by their weight, and the crashing was heard 
at a great distance. A single family has been known to have 
killed more than one hundred dozen in one night, with poles 
and other weapons ; and they were often taken in such numbers 
that they were thrown into piles, and kept to feed the swine. 
Tlie Indians called the pigeon wuscowan, a word signifying a 
wanderer. The wild fowl were so numerous in the waters, 
that persons sometimes killed ' 50 Duckes at a shot.' 

The Indians appear to have been very fond of amusements. 
The tribes, even from a great distance, were accustomed to 
challenge each other, and to assemble upon Lynn Beach to de- 
cide their contests. Here they sometimes passed many days 
in the exercises of running, leaping, wrestling, shooting, and 
other diversions. Before they began their sports, they drew a 
line in the sand, across which the parties shook hands in evi- 
dence of friendship, and they sometimes painted their faces, to 
prevent revenge. A tall pole was then planted in the beach, on 
which were hung beaver skins, wampum, and other articles, for 
which they contended ; and frequently, all they were worth was 
ventured in the play. One of their games was foot-ball. Another 
was called puim, which was played by shuffluig together many 
small sticks, and contending for them. Another game was 
played with five flat pieces of bone, black on one side and white 
on the other. These were put into a wooden bowl, which was 
struck on the ground, causing the bones to bound aloft, and as 
they fell white or black, the game was decided. During this 
play, the Indians sat in a circle, making a great noise, by the 
constant repetition of the ^vord linb, Jinb, — come, come, — from 
which it was called hubbub ; a word, the derivation of which 
seems greatly to have puzzled Dr. Johnson. 

The Indians believed in a Great Spirit, whom they called 
Kichtan, who made all the other gods, and one man and woman. 
The evil spirit they called Hobamock. They endured the most 
acute pains without a murmur, and seldom laughed loud. They 
cultivated a kind of natural music, and had their war and death 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



57 



son"-s. The women had lullabies and melodies for their chil- 
dren, and modulated their voices by the songs of birds. Some 
early writers represent the voices of their females, when heard 
through the shadowy woods, to have been exquisitely harmo- 
nious" It has been said they had no poets, but their whole lan- 
guage was a poem. What more poetical than calling the roar of 
the ocean on the Beach, Suivkiss, or great panting ? — literally, the 
noise which a tired animal makes when spent in the chase. What 
more poetical than naming a boy Poquanum, or Dark Skm ; and 
a girl Wanapaquin, a Plume ? Every word of the Indians was 
expressive, and had a meaning. Such is natural poetry ni all 
ages. The Welsh called their great king Arthur, from aruthr, 
terribly fair; and such was Alonzo, the name of the Moorish 
kings of Spain, from an Arabic word signifying the fountain of 
beauty. When we give our children the names of gems and 
flowers — when we use language half as designative as that of 
the Indians, we may begin to talk of poetry. ' 1 am an aged 
hemlock,' said one, ' whose head has been whitened by eighty 
snows 1 ' ' We will brighten the chain of our friendship with 
you,' said the chiefs in their treaties. The Indians reckoned 
their time by snows and moons. A snow was a winter ; and 
thus, a man who had seen eighty snows, was eighty years of 
age. A moon was a month ; thus they had the harvest moon, 
the hunting moon, and the moon of flowers. A sleep was a 
night ; and seven sleeps were seven days. This figurative lan- 
guage is in the highest degree poetical and beautiful. 

The Indians have ever been distinguished for friendship, jus- 
tice, magnanimity, and a high sense of honor. They have been 
represented by some as insensible and brutish, but, with the ex- 
ception of their revenge, they were not an insensate race. The 
old chief, who requested permission of the white people to smoke 
one more whiffbefore he was slaughtered, was thought to bean 
unfeelino- wretch ; but he expressed more than he could have 
done bylhe most eloquent speech. The red people received 
the emigrants in a friendly manner, and taught them how to 
plant ; and when any of the whites travelled through the woods, 
they entertained them with more kindness than compliments, 
kept them freely many days, and often went ten, and even 
twenty miles, to conduct them on their way. The Rev. Roger 
Williams says : ' They were remarkably free and courteous to 
invite all strangers in. I have reaped kindness again from many, 
seven years after, whom I myself had forgotten. It is a strange 
truth, that a man shall generally find more free entertainment 
and refreshment among these barbarians, than among thousands 
that call themselves Christians.' 

The scene which presented itself to the first settlers, must 
have been in the highest degree interesting and beautiful. The 
8 



5S H I s T o n. y o r L Y N x\ . 

light birchen canoes of the red men were seen gracefully swim- 
ming over the surface of the bright bhie ocean ; the half clad 
females were beheld, bathing their olive limbs in the lucid flood, 
or sporting on the smooth beach, and gathering the spotted eggs 
from their little hollows in the sands, or the beautiful shells, 
which abounded among the pebbles, to string into beads or 
weave into wampum, for the adornment of their necks and arms. 
At one time an Indian was seen with his bow, silently endeav- 
oring to transfix the wild duck or the brant, as they rose and 
sunk on the alternate waves ; and at another, a glance was 
caught of the timid wild deer, rushing through the shadow of 
the dark green oaks ; or the sly fox, bounding from rock to rock 
among the high cliffs of Nahant, and stealing along the shore to 
find his evening repast, which the tide had left upon the beach. 
The little sand-pipers darted along the thin edge of the wave — 
the white gulls in hundreds soared screaming overhead — and 
the curlews filled the echoes of the rocks with their wild and 
watery music. This is no imaginary picture, wrought up for the 
embellishment of a fanciful tale, — but the delineation of an ac- 
tual scene, which presented itself to the eyes of our fathers. 

An incident respecting the Indians, about a year before the 
settlement of Lynn, is related by Rev. Thomas Cobbet, in a 
letter to Increase Mather. ' About the year 1626, when those 
few that came over with Colonel Indicot and begun to settle at 
Nahumkeeck, now called Salem, and in a manner all so sick of 
their journey, that though they had both small and great guns, and 
powder and bullets for them, yet had not strength to manage 
them, if suddenly put upon it ; and tidings being certainly brought 
them, on a Lord's day morning, that a thousand Indians from 
Saugust, (now called Lyn,) were corning against them to cut 
them off, they had much ado amongst them all to charge two or 
three of theyre great guns, and traile them to a place of advan- 
tage ; where the Indians must pass to them, and there to shoot 
them off; when they heard by theyre noise which they made in 
the woods, that the Indians drew neare, the noise of which great 
Artillery, to which the Indians were never wonted before, did 
occasionally, by the good hand of God, strike such dread into 
them, that by some lads who lay as scouts in the woods, they 
were heard to reiterate that confused outcrie, (O Hobbamock, 
much Hoggery,) and then fled confusedly back with all speed, 
when none pursued them. One old Button,* lately living at 
Haverhill, who Avas then almost the only haile man left of that 
company, confirmed this to be so to me, accordingly as I formerly 
had been informed of it.' 

* Matthias Button, a Dutchman, who lived in a thatched house in Haverhill, in 
1670. So says Mr. Joshua Coffin, who is now compiling: a curious manuscript His- 
tory of ^.'ewl)ury. 



HISTORY or LYNN. 



59 



There were but few towns planted in Massachusetts before 
the settlement of Lynn. In 1622, a plantation was begun at 
Weymouth. In 1G24, the Rev. William Blackstone, with his 
family, e.stablished himself at Boston. In 1625, a settlement was 
begun at Braintree ; in 1626, at Salem; and in 1727, at Charles- 
town. On the nineteenth of March, 1628, the Council in Eng- 
land sold all that part of Massachusetts, between three miles 
north of Merrimack River, and three miles south of Charles 
River, to six gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. John Humfrey, 
who afterward came to Lynn. 




Boniface Barton. Aged 113 years. Page 63. 




CHAPTER III. 

Settlement of Lynn — Early Inhabitants — Thomas Dexter buys Nahant for a suit 
of clothes — Occupation of the People — Descriptive Ballad — Town incorporated 
— Trouble about wolves — Quarrel between Dexter and Endecott — Montowam- 
pate goes to England — Wenuchus, his Queen, taken prisoner by the Taratines — 
1629 to 1631. 

Love thou thy land, with love far brought 
From out the storied past. 

Tennyson. 

YNN is one of the earliest towns planted in Massa- 
chusetts. Its settlement was begun in 1629. Among 
the authorities for assigning the settlement to this 
year, is the Rev. Samuel Danforth's almanac for the 
lyear 1617. He gives a list of the first towns set- 
tled in this state, to which he prefixes these words : 
' The time when these townes following began — Lynn, 1629.' 
By several ancient manuscripts, it appears that the settlement 
must have commenced as early as the first of June. 

1629. The first white men known to have been inhabit- 
ants of Lynn, were Edmund Ingalls and his brother Francis 
Ingalls. A record preserved in the family of the former says, 
' Mr. Edmund Ingalls came from Lincolnshire, in England, to 
Lynn, in 1629.' He was a farmer, and settled in the eastern 
part of the town, near a small pond in Fayette street. The place 
where his house stood is still pointed out by his descendants. 
He had a malt house near the margin of the pond. When the 
lands were divided, in 1638, there were apportioned ' to Edmund 
and Francis Ingalls, upland and meadow, 120 acres.' He was 
accidentally drowned, in March, 1648, by falling with his horse 
through the old Saugus river bridge, on Boston street ; for which 
the General Court paid one hundred pounds ($444) to his chil- 
dren. His estate was valued at £135 8s. lOd., including 'house 
and lands, £50.' The name of his wife was Ann, and he had 
nine children, six of whom were born in England. 1. Robert, 
who inherited his father's ' house and houselot.' 2. Elizabeth. 
3. Faith, who married Andrew Allen. 4. John, to whom his 
father gave ' the house and ground that was Jeremy ffits, 
(Fitch,) lying by the meetinghouse, and that three acres land he 



1629.] H I S T O RY O F L Y N N . 61 

hath in England.' 5. Sarah, who married William Bitnar. 
6. Henry, who was born in 1G27, and removed to Andover, 
where he died in 1719, aged 92 years. A descendant of his, 
Captain Henry Ingalls, died in 1803, aged S4 years. About a 
year before his death, he added the following note to the family 
genealogy. ' Mr. Henry Ingals, from whom all these spring, 
was born in the year 1627, and he died in the year 1719, who 
lived ninety-two years, and two months after his death, I Henry 
Ingals was Born, who have lived eighty-three years, So that we 
two Henry Ingals hath Lived on this Earth one hundred and 
seventy five years.' 7. Samuel. 8. Mary. 9. Joseph. The 
descendants of Mr. Edmund Ingalls, in this and other towns, 
are numerous and respectable, and several of them eminent in 
the learned professions. 

Francis Ingalls, brother of Edmund, was born in England in 
1601. He was a tanner, and lived at Swampscot. He built a 
tannery on Humfrey's brook, where it is crossed by a stone 
bridge in Burrill street. I saw the vats before they were taken 
up in 1825. This was the first tannery in New England. 

William Dixey was born in England in 1607, and came over a 
servant with Mr. Isaac Johnson. On his arrival at Salem, he 
says that application was made for him and others, ' for a place 
to set down in ; upon which Mr. Endecott did give me and the 
rest leave to go where we would ; upon which we went to Sau- 
gust, now Linne, and there wee met with Sagamore James and 
som other Indians, who did give me and the rest leaue to dwell 
there or thereabouts ; whereupon I and the rest of my master's 
company did cutt grass for our cattell, and kept them upon Na- 
hant for som space of time ; for the Indian James Sagamore and 
the rest did give me and the rest, in behalf of my master John- 
son, what land we would ; whereupon wee sett down in Saugust, 
and had quiet possession of it by the abovesaid Indians, and kept 
our cattell in Nahant the sumer following.'* Mr. Dixey was 
admitted a freeman at the first General Court in 1634. He re- 
moved to Salem, and kept a ferry-boat across the North River.t 

William Wood came to Lynn in 1629, and was admitted a 
freeman May 18, 1631. He resided here, according to his own 
account, about ' four years,' and during that time he wrote an 
interesting work, entitled ' New England's Prospect,' containing 
a very favorable account of the early settlements. On the fif- 
teenth of August, 1633, he sailed with Captain Thomas Graves, 
for London ; where, in 1634, he printed his book, in one hun- 
dred pages. In 1635, he published a map of New England, en- 
graved on wood. He returned to Lynn the same year. He 

* Deposition in Essex Court Archives, July 1, 1G57. 
t Felt's Annals of Salem, 



62 H 1 S T O R Y O F L y N N . [1630. 

embarked on the eleventh of September, in the Hopewell, of 
London, being then 27 years of age ; bringing with him his wife, 
Elizabeth, aged 24 years* In 1G36, he was chosen represent- 
ative. In 1637, he went with a company of about fifty men, and 
commenced a settlement at Sandwich. He was chosen town 
clerk there, and was a very active, intelligent, and talented man. 
His book is one of the most interesting and valuable which was 
written at that early period, and several extracts from it will be 
found in these pages. 

John Wood was a farmer, and lived on the corner of Essex 
and North streets, the same place now owned by Nathaniel 
Lewis. When the lands were divided, in 163S, one hundred 
acres were allotted to him. I think that William Wood, the 
writer, was his son, and William Wood of Salem, his brother. 

Such was the little band who commenced the first settlement 
in the wilderness of Lynn. Five men, with their families, prob- 
ably comprising about twenty persons. They did not settle at 
Sagamore Hill, because the Indians were there ; nor on the Com- 
mon, because that was a forest ; but coming from Salem, they 
selected a ' faire playne,' somewhat less than half a mile in ex- 
tent, where they built their rude cottages, ' and had peaceable 
possession.' John Wood appears to have been the principal 
person, and from him the village has ever since been called 
' Wood End.' There the soil of Lynn was first stirred by the 
white men — there, surrounded by Indians, they laid the foun- 
dation of a town. 

1630. Early in the spring, eleven vessels, having on board 
about seventeen hundred persons, left the harbor of Southamp- 
ton, and sailed for New England. In the number of the pas- 
sengers were Mr. John Winthrop, the first governor of Massa- 
chusetts, with many other persons of dignity, wealth, and 
reputation. As Mr. Humfrey, who had been chosen deputy 
governor, was not ready to remove, Mr. Thomas Dudley was 
chosen in his stead. In the month of June, the ships arrived at 
Salem, and the passengers began to make settlements in the 
pathless woods. Mr. Dudley says that some of them settled 
' upon the river of Saugus.' Others went to Charlestown and 
Boston ; and the rest began new settlements at Roxbury, Dor- 
chester, Watertown, and Medford. The Council had agreed that 
each person who advanced fifty pounds, should have two hun- 
dred acres ; and that each one who came over on his own ex- 
pense, should have fifty acres. The following persons appear 
to have arrived at Lynn this year. 

Joseph Armitage lived on the Common, opposite the Acade- 

* Records in Westminster Hall, London. 



1 630. ] H I 5 T O R Y O F L Y .N X . 63 

my, and his land extended to Strawberry Brook. He was a 
tailor, and was admitted a freeman in 1637. Some years after, 
he became the proprietor of a corn and slitting mill on Saugus 
River.* He opened the first tavern in the town, called the 
Anchor.! It stood on the Boston road, a little west of the river. 
For one hundred and seventy years, this was the most cele- 
brated tavern in Essex county, being half way from Salem to 
Boston. He died June 27, 1660, aged eightj^ years. His wife, 
Jane, died March 3, 1677. His children were John, and Rebec- 
ca, who married Samuel Tarbox, in 1665. 

Godfrey Armitage was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman 
in 1638. 

James Axey was a farmer, a representative in 1654, and died 
in 1669. His wife, Frances, died the same year. 

Allen Breed was a farmer, and lived in the western part of 
Summer street. In 1638, he had two hundred acres of land al- 
lotted to him. He was born in 1601. The name of his wife 
was Elizabeth, and his children were Allen, Timothy, Joseph, 
and John. His descendants are numerous, and from him the 
village in which he resided was called Breed's End. 

William Bullard was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman 
in 1638. In the same year he was a member of the Essex 
Court. His children were John, Nathaniel, and Elizabeth. 

George Burrill lived on the western side of Willis's Hill. He 
was a farmer, and had 200 acres of land. He had three sons : 
George ; Francis, born 1626, died November 10, 1704 ; and John, 
born 1631, died April 24, 1703. 

Edward Baker w'as a farmer, and lived on the south side of 
Baker's Hill, in Saugus. He was admitted a freeman in 1638 ; 
and was buried March 16, 1687. His wife, Joan, died April 9, 
1693. His sons Avere Edward, who married Mary Marshall, 
April 7, 1675 ; and Thomas, who married Mary Lewis, July 10, 
1689. 

Samuel Bcnnet was a carpenter, and a member of the Ancient 
Artillery Company in 1639. A pine forest in the northern part 
of the town, still retains the name of Bennet's Swamp. He re- 
sided in the western part of Saugus, and when the towns were 
divided, the line passed through his land, eastward of his house, 
so that afterward he was called an inhabitant of Boston. 

Nicholas Brown was a farmer, and lived in VA^alnut street, in 
Saugus. He removed to Reading in 1644. He had a son, 
Thomas, who continued at Lynn, and died August 28, 1693. His 
descendants remain. 

Boniface Burton was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman 
May 6, 1635. He was the oldest man who ever lived at Lynn. 
He died June 13, 1669, aged 113 years.$ 

* Ebsex Reg Deeds. t Mass. Archives. { Sewall. 



64 H I S T O R Y O F L Y .N i\' . [1630. 

John Bancroft died in 1637. He had two sons, Thomas and 
John, and his descendants remain. 

Thomas Coldam was admitted a freeman in 1634. He kept 
Mr. Humfrey's windmill on Sagamore Hill ; and died April 8, 
1675, aged 74 years. 

Clement Coldam was a miller, and a member of the Ancient 
Artillery Company in 1645. He had a son Clement, born in 
1622, who removed to Gloucester, and died in 1703. 

Thomas Chadwell was a farmer, and lived in Summer street. 
He died in February, 1683. His sons were Thomas, Moses, and 
Benjamin. His descendants remain. 

William Cowdrey, born in 1602, was a farmer. He removed 
to Reading in 1640; where he was Clerk of the Writs, Town 
Clerk, Selectman, and Representative. 

Thomas Dexter was a farmer, and lived on the west of Sau- 
gus river, near the iron works. He was admitted a freeman, 
May 18, 1631. He owned eight hundred acres of land, and was 
called, by way of excellence, ' Farmer Dexter.' He was a veiy 
active and enterprising man, and built a mill, and a wear across 
Saugas River. Among his speculations, he purchased Na- 
hant of the Indian chief, Poquanum, called ' Black Will,' for 
a suit of clothes ; which occasioned the town an expensive law- 
suit in 1657, another in 1678, and a third in 1695. He became 
one of the first proprietors of the town of Sandwich in 1637, and 
promoted its settlement, but did not remove at that time. He 
had a son Thomas, a grandson Richard, and a great grandson 
William ; but none of his descendants remain at Lynn. 

Robert Driver was a farmer, and lived in Shepard street, on 
the south of which a creek still bears his name. He was made 
a freeman in 1635, and died April 3, 1680, aged 88 years. His 
wife, Phebe, died in February, 1683. He had a son, Robert, 
who was a soldier in the Indian war of 1675. 

William Edmunds was admitted a freeman in 1635, and died 
August 4, 1693, aged 33 years. His children were John; and 
Samuel, who married Elizabeth Bridges, January 27, 1685. 

George Farr was a farmer in the eastern part of Essex street. 
He was admitted a freeman in 1635, and died in 1661. His 
wife Elizabeth was buried March 11, 16S7. His children were 
John, Lazarus, Benjamin, Joseph, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, and 
Sarah. 

Henry Feake was admitted a freeman, May 14, 1632, and 
removed to Sandwich in 1637. 

Jeremiah Fitch was a farmer, and lived in Shepard street. 
He removed to Reading in 1644. 

Samuel Graves was a farmer, and lived on the turnpike, west 
of the Floating Bridge, and from him that village has ever since 



1630.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 65 

been called Graves End. In 1635, he gave nearly £300 to the 
colony. He had a son Samuel, and his descendants remain. 

Adam Hawkes was a farmer, and settled on the Hawkes 
Farms in Saugus. He owned the land where the iron ore was 
foiuid, and filled up one of the mines, on the supposition that it 
contained silver. Soon after his settlement, his house was 
burnt. The only persons in it at the time, were a servant girl 
and two twin infants, who escaped. He died in 1071. His 
sons were Adam, John, Moses, Benjamin, and Thomas. His 
descendants remain. 

John Hawkes was admitted a freeman in 1634, and died 
August 5, 1694. 

John Hall was admitted a freeman in 1634. Edward Hall, 
son of John, was a farmer, and died in 1669. His children were 
Joseph, Ephraim, Elizabeth, Rebecca and Martha. His descend- 
ants remain. 

Thomas Hubbard was admitted a freeman in 1634, and *^ 
removed to Billerica. 

Edward Holyoke was a farmer, and had five hundred acres 
of land. He was a member of the Essex Court, and was many 
times chosen representative. In 1656 he owned the western 
side of Sagamore Hill. He died May 4, 1660. His estate was 
valued at £681. His farm in Lynn, £400; his farm at Beaver 
Dam, in Reading, £150; three acres of land on Nahant, £6; 
two oxen, £12; four cows, £16; and his books, £20; among 
which were some valuable manuscripts. In his will, he be- 
seeches God to impress his children with the importance of 
private prayer and public worship, and bequeaths each of them ^ 
a lock of his hair. His children were, 1. Ehzur, who removed , ' 
to Springfield, and married Mary Pynchon ; 2. Elizabeth, who 
married George Keyser. An excellent spring, in the western 
part of the town, surrounded by five willows, is well known by 
the name of Holyoke spring. A descendant of his, Edward 
Augustus Holyoke, an eminent physician, died at Salem, March 
3], 1829, aged one hundred years and seven months. 

Edward Howe was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman in 
1636. He was several times chosen representative, and was a 
member of the Essex Court in 1637. In April, 1639, after the 
court was ended in Boston, having dined in his usual health, he 
went to the river side, to pass over to Charlestown, and while 
waiting for the ferry boat, fell dead on the shore. Governor 
"VVinthrop says he was 'a Godly man.' He had a son Ed- 
ward. 

Lieutenant Daniel Howe, brother of Edward, was admitted a 

freeman in 1634. He was representative in five courts, and a 

member of the Ancient Artillery Company in 1638. He removed 

to New Haven. His son Ephraim was master of a vessel which 

9 



65 H I S T O R V^ O F L y N N . [lG30. 

sailed from Boston. In September, 1676, his vessel, in which 
were two of his sons and three other jiersons, was disabled by a 
storm, off Cape Cod, and driven to sea for several weeks, until 
his two sons, lashed to the deck by ropes, perished with wet and 
cold. The vessel was then cast on a desolate island, where the 
three other persons died. Mr Howe was thus left alone, and 
found means to subsist for nine months, lodging and praying in 
a cave, till he was taken off by a vessel, in June. 

William Hathorne was born in England in 1607, was admit- 
ted a freeman in 1634, and removed to Salem. 

Thomas Hudson was a farmer, and lived on the western side 
of Saugus river. He owned the lands where the iron works 
were situated, part of which he sold for that purpose. He had 
a son Jonathan, whose descendants remain. 

Christopher Hussey was born at Darking, in Surrey, England, 
in 1598. He went to Holland, where he became enamored of 
Theodate, daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, who had resided 
there several years, but her father would not consent to their 
union, unless Mr. Hussey would remove to New England, 
whither he was preparing to go. Mr. Hussey came to Lynn 
with his mother, widow Mary Hussey, and his wife, in 1630, 
and here, the same year, his son Stephen was born, who was 
the second white child born in Lynn. He removed to Newbury 
in 1636, and was chosen representative in 1637. In 1638, he 
became one of the first settlers of Hampton, and was chosen a 
counsellor. In 1685, he was cast away and lost on the coast of 
Florida, being 87 years of age. His children were Stephen, 
John, Joseph, Huldah, Theodate, and Mary. 

George Keyser, born 1616, was a tanner at Swampscot, and 
was admitted a freeman in 1638. He married Elizabeth Hol- 
yoke, and had a son Elizur, who removed to Salem. 

Christopher Lyndsey lived as a servant with Thomas Dexter, 
and kept his cattle on Nahant. A hill on the northeastern part 
of Nahant is still called Lyndsey's Hill. He died in 1668. 
He had two sons, John and Eleazer, and his descendants 
remain. 

Thomas Newhall was a farmer, and owned all the lands on 
the eastern side of Federal street. His house stood in the same 
place with that of Mr. Amos Rhodes. He had two sons. 1. 
John, born in England. 2. Thomas, born in 1630, who was the 
first white child born in Lynn. He married Elizabeth Potter, 
December 29, 1652, and was buried April 1, 1687, aged 57 years. 
His wife was buried February 22, 1687. His children were 
Thomas, John, Joseph, Nathaniel, EHsha, Elizabeth, Mary, 
Samuel, and Rebecca. His descendants are more numerous 
than those of any other name at Lynn, and there are many in 
the adjacent towns. 



1630.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 67 

Jonathan Negus was born in 1601, and was admitted a free- 
man in 1634. 

Robert Potter was a farmer, and lived in Boston street. He 
was admitted a freeman in 1631. He had a daughter Ehzabetli. 

John Ramsdell was a farmer, and died October 27, 1688, aged 
86 years. His wife, Priseilla, died January 23, 1675. His sons 
were John and Aquiia, and his descendants remain. 

Edward Richards, born 1616, was 'a joiner," and was admit- 
ted a freeman in 1641. He lived in the eastern part of Essex 
street. On the third of April, 1646, he sold to Daniel King, 
'one parcel of land, called Windmill Hill,' being the eastern 
mound of Sagamore Hill. He died January 26, 1690, aged 74 
years. His descendants remain. 

Joseph Rednap was a wine cooper, from London, and was 
admitted a freeman in 1634. Judge Sewall, in his Diary, says, 
he died on Friday, January 23, 1686, aged 110 years. 

Daniel Salmon, born in 1610, was a soldier in the Pequod 
war, in 1536. He had a son Daniel, born May 2, 1665. 

Samuel Smith was a farmer, and lived at Swampscot. His 
descendants remain. 

John Smith was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman in 
1633. He removed to Reading. 

John Taylor came from Haverhill, in England. His wife and 
child died on the passage. He was admitted a freeman, October 
19, 1630, and lived on the western side of Saugus river. 

Captain Edward Tomlins was a carpenter, and was admitted 
a freeman in 1631. He was six times chosen representative. 
In 1633, he built the first mill in Lynn, at the mouth of Straw- 
berry brook, which flows from the Flax Pond, where Chase's 
mill now stands. At one of the courts he agreed to repair IMis- 
tick bridge for £22. In 1638 he was a member of the Ancient 
Artillery Company. In 1640, he went to Long Island, but 
returned to Lynn, and was appointed Clerk of the Writs in 
1643. His son Edward came over in 1635, at the age of 30 ; 
but returned to London in 1644, and in 1679 was at Dublin. 

Timothy Tomlins, brother of Edward, was a farmer, and was 
admitted a freeman 1633. He was representative in thirteen 
sessions of the General Court. In 1640, he went with those 
who began a settlement at Southampton, on Long Island, but 
returned. A pine forest in the norihern part of the town is 
well known by the name of Tomlin's Swamp. He was one of 
the first proprietors of Cambridge, but did not reside there. 

Captain Nathaniel Turner lived in Nahant street, and owned 
the whole of Sagamore Hill. He applied to be admitted a free- 
man October 19, 1630, Init did not take the oath until July 3, 
1632. He was representative in the first seven sessions of the 
General Court, and a member of the fiist County Court at Salem 



68 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1630. 

in 1636. In 1633, he was appointed Captain of the Militia, and 
in 1636 and 1637 had a command in several expeditions against 
the Pequod Indians. In 1637 his house was burnt. In 1638, 
he became a member of the Ancient Artillery Company ; and 
the same year sold his land on Sagamore Hill to Mr. Edward 
Holyoke, and removed, with others, to Quilipeake, where a new 
settlement was begun, and called New Haven. His name is 
preserved in Turner's Falls. In 1639, he was one of the seven 
members of the first church at New Haven. In 1640, he pur- 
chased for the town, of Ponus, the Indian Sagamore, the tract 
of land which is now the town of Stamford, for which he paid 
in ' coats, shoes, hatchets, &c.' His active and useful life was 
soon after terminated in a melancholy manner. In January, 
1646, he sailed for England, with Captain Lamberton, in a 
vessel which was never heard of more. Governor Winthrop 
informs us, that in June, 1648, the apparition of a ship was seen, 
under full sail, moving up the harbor of New Haven, a little 
before sunset, in a pleasant afternoon, and that as it approached 
the, shore, it slowly vanished. This was thought to have a 
reference to the fate of Captain Lamberton's ship. The follow- 
ing epitaph was written to the memory of Captain Turner : 

Deep in Atlantic cave his body sleeps, 
While the dark sea its ceaseless motion keeps. 
While phantom ships are wrecked along the shore, 
To warn his friends that he will come no more ! 
But He who governs all with impulse free, 
Can bring- from Bashan and the deepest sea, 
And when He calls our Turner must return. 
Though now his ashes fill no sacred urn. 

Thomas Talmadge was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman 
1634. He had a son Thomas. 

Captain Richard Walker was a farmer, and resided on the 
west of Saugus river. He was born in 1593 ; and was admitted 
a freeman in 1634. He was buried May 16, 1687, aged 95 
years. He had two sons; Richard, born 1611, who came over 
in 1635, removed to Reading, and was several times chosen 
representative; and Samuel, who removed lo Reading. He also 
had two daughters ; Tabitha, who married Daniel King, March 
11, 1662; and Elizabeth, who married Ralph King, March 2, 
1663. 

Thomas Willis was a farmer, and the first resident on Willis's 
Hill, on which the poor-house is situated. The land on the 
south was called Willis's Neck, and that on the north Willis's 
meadow. He was a representative in the first General Court in 
1634, and a member of the Essex Court in 1639. He became 
one of the first proprietors of Sandwich in 1637, but did not 
remove at that time. 



1630.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 69 

Bray "Wilkins was a farmer, and lived on the western side of 
the Flax Pond. He was admitted a freeman in 1634, and 
removed to Danvers. 

Jolm White was a farmer, and was admitted a freeman in 
1633. 

William Witter was a farmer, and resided at Swampscot. 
He lived on the spot where Joseph Blaney's house now stands. 
He says, ' Blacke Avill, or duke william, so called, came to my 
house, (which was two or three miles from Nahant,) when 
Thomas Dexter bad bought Nahant for a suit of clothes ; tbe 
said Black will Asked me what I would give him for the Land 
my house stood vppon, it being his land, and his fllither's wig- 
wam stood their abouts, James Sagomore and John, and the 
Sagomore of Agawame, and diuers more. And George Sago- 
more, being a youth was present, all of them acknowlidginge 
Black will to be the Right owner of the Land my house stood 
on, and Sagomore Hill and Nahant was all his ; ' and adds ' that 
he bought Nahant and Sagomer Hill and Swamscoate of Black 
William for two pestle stones.'* He died in 1659, aged 15 
years. The name of his wife was Annis, and his children were 
Josiah, and Hannah, who married Robert Burdin. By his will, 
August 6, 1657, he gives his wife Annis half his estate, and 
Josiah the other half; and says, ' Hannah shall have a yew and 
lamb this time twelf mounth.' 

Captain Richard Wright was selected in 1632, to confer with 
the governor about raising a public fund. He was admitted a 
freeman in 1634. He removed to Boston, where, in 1636, he 
contributed 6s. 8d. ' towards the maintenance of a free school- 
master.' t 

The great body of fifty persons, with their families, who came 
to Lynn this year, settled in all parts of the town, selecting the 
most eligible portions, and each occupying from ten to two hun- 
dred acres, and some more. They were principally farmers, and 
possessed a large stock of horned cattle, sheep and goats. For 
several years, before the land was divided, and the fields fenced, 
the cattle were fed in one drove, and guarded by a man, who, 
from his employment, was called a liayward. The sheep, goats 
and swine were kept on Nahant, wliere they were tended by a 
shepherd. Nahant seems to have been sold several times, to 
different individuals, by ' Black William,' who also gave it to the 
plantation for a sheep pasture. A fence of rails, put near 
together, was made across the beach near Nahant, to keep out 
the wolves, as those animals do not climb. When the people 
were about building this fence, Captain Turner said, ' Let us 

* Depo.sition in Salem Court files, 15ih and 27lh April, 1657. f Boston Records. 



70 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1630. 

make haste, lest the country should take it from us.' * The 
people of Lynn, for some years, appear to have lived in the most 
perfect democracy. They had town meetings every three 
months, for the regulation of their pubUc affairs. They cut 
their wood in common, and drew lots for the grass in the mead- 
ows and marshes. These proved very serviceable to the farm- 
ers, by furnishing them with sustenance for their cattle ; which 
was probably the reason why there were more farmers at Lynn, 
than in any other of the early settlements. Mr. Johnson says, 
' The chiefest corn they planted, before they had plowes, was 
Indian grain — and let no man make a jest at Pumpkins, for 
with this food the Lord was pleased to feed his people to their 
good content, till Come and Cattell were increased.' Their 
corn at the first, was pounded, after the manner of the Indians, with 
a pestle of wood or stone, in mortar made either of stone, or a 
log hollowed out at one end. They also cultivated large fields 
of barley and wheat. Much of the former was made into malt 
for beer. They raised considerable quantities of flax, which 
■was rotted in one of the ponds, thence called the Flax Pond. 
Their first houses were rude structures, covered with thatch, or 
small bundles of sedge or straw, laid one over another. A com- 
mon form of the early cottages, was eighteen feet square, and 
seven feet post, with the roof steep enough to form a sleeping 
chamber. The better houses were built with two stories in 
front, and sloped down to one in the rear ; the upper story pro- 
jecting about a foot, with very sharp gables. The frames were 
of heavy oak timber, showing the beams inside. Burnt clam- 
shells were used for lime, and the walls were whitewashed. 
The fire-places were made of rough stones, and the chimneys 
of boards, or short sticks, crossing each other, and plaistered 
inside with clay. The windows were small, opening outward on 
hinges. They consisted of very small diamond panes, set in 
sashes of lead. The fire-places were large enough to admit a 
four-foot log, and the children might sit in the corners and look 
up at the stars People commonly burnt about twenty cords of 
wood in a year, and the ministers were allowed thirty cords. 
On whichever side of the road the houses were placed, they 
uniformly faced the south, that the sun at noon might ' shine 
square.' Thus each house formed a domestic sun-dial, by 
whicli the good matron, in the absence of the clock, could tell, 
in fair weather, when to call her husband and sons from the 
field ; for the industrious people of Lynn, then as well as now, 
always dined exactly at twelve. It was the custom of the first 
settlers to wear long beards, and Governor Winthrop says, 
' Some had their overgrown beards so frozen together, that they 

* Deposition in Salem Court Records, April 22, 1657. 



1630.] HISTORY OF LYXN. 71 

could not get their strong water bottells into their mouths.' In 
very hot weather, says Wood, ' servants were priviledged to 
rest from their labors, from ten of the clocke till two.' The 
common address of men and women was Goodman and Good- 
wife ; none but those who sustained some oflice of dignity, or 
were descended from some respectable family, were compli- 
mented with the title of Master. In writing, they seldom used 
a capital F, and thus in the early records we find two small 
ones used instead ; and one m, with a dash over it, stood for two. 
The following ballad, written about this time, exhibits some of 
the peculiar customs and modes of thinking among the early 
settlers. 

NEW ENGLAND BALLAD. 



The place where we live is a wilderness wood, 
Where grass is much wanting that 's fruitful and good; 
Our mountains and hills, and our valleys below, 
Being commonly covered with ice and with snow. 
And when the northwest wind with violence blows, 
Then every man pulls his cap over his nose ; 
But if any is hardy, and will it withstand, 
He forfeits a finger, a foot, or a hand. 



And when the spring opens, we then take the hoe, 
And make the ground ready to plant and to sow ; 
Our corn being planted, and seed being sown, 
The worms destroy much before it is grown ; 
And while it is growing, some spoil there is made 
By birds and by squirrels, who pluck up the blade ; 
And when it is come to full corn in the ear, 
It is often destroyed by raccoon and by deer. 



And now our old garments begin to grow thin, 
And wool is much wanted to card and to spin ; 
If we can get a garment to cover without, 
Our other in garments are clout [patch] upon patch. 
Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn, 
They need to be clouted soon after they 're worn ; 
But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing. 
Clouts double are warmer than single whole clothing. 



If fresh meat be wanting to fill up our dish. 

We have carrots and pumpkins, and turnips and fish ; 

And if there 's a mind for a delicate dish. 

We haste to the clain banks and lake what we wish. 

Stead of pottage and puddings and custards and pies, 

Our turnips and parsnips are common supplies ; 

We have pumpkins at morning, and pumpkins at noon, 

If it was not for pumpkins we should be undone. 



72 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1G30. 



[Stead of brandy and whiskey and cider and gin, 
We have liquor whicii all may parlalce without sin; 
Onr springs of fresh water are excellent cheer, 
And fill up the places of porter and beer.] 
If barley be wanting: to make into malt, 
We must then be contented and think it no fault ; 
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips, 
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips. 



Now while some are g'oing: let others be coming', 
For while liquor 's boiling it must have a scumming ; 
But I will not blame them, for birds of a feather, 
Bv seeking- their fellows, are flocking together. 
Then you whom the Lord intends hither to bring, 
Forsake not the honey for fear of the sting ; 
But bring both a quiet and contented mind. 
And all needful blessings you surely shall find. 

The General Court, for the first four years, consisted of the 
Governor, Deputy Governor, twelve Assistants, or magistrates, 
and all who had obtained the privileges of freemen. Instead, 
therefore, of sending representatives, the whole number of free- 
men attended the Court in person. An order was made, that 
no persons should be admitted to the privileges of ' freemen,' 
but such as were members of some church, and had certificates 
from their ministers that their opinions were approved. This 
policy continued, till it was abrogated by an order from king 
Charles II., in 1662. 

Lynn was incorporated in 1630, by the admission of its free- 
men as members of the General Court. There were no acts of 
incorporation for several of the early towns. Boston, Salem, 
and Charlestown were no otherwise incorporated, than by their 
freemen taking their seats in the General Court. They never 
paused to inquire if they were incorporated; the very act of 
their being there was an incorporation. The freemen of Lynn 
were an important and respectable portion of the General Court, 
and Lynn was as much incorporated in 1630 as Boston was. 
The injustice which has been done to Lynn, by placing its in- 
corporation seven years too late, should be corrected. 

The following order was passed by the General Court, for 
regulating the prices of labor. ' It is ordered, that no master 
carpenter, mason, joiner, or bricklayer shall take above 16d. a 
Day for their work, if they have meate and Drinke ; and the 
second sort not above 12d. a Day, under payne of Xs. both to 
giver and receiver.' This order probably occasioned some dis- 
satisfaction ; as the Court, some months after, determined that 
wages should be left unlimited, ' as men shall reasonably agree.' 

The Indians, having become acquainted with the use of guns, 



1 630.] H I S T O K Y O F L Y N N . 73 

and having seen their superiority over bows and arrows, would 
give ahnost any amount in land, beaver skins, or wampum for 
them. This caused an apprehension of danger, and on the 
twenty-eighth of September, the Court ordered, that ' noe per- 
son whatsoever shall, either directly or indirectly, imploy or 
cause to be employed, or to their power permit any Indian to 
vse any peece vpon any occasion or pretence whatsoever, under 
pain of Xs. fFyne for the first offence, and for the 2 offence to 
be ffyned and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court.' 

A company of militia was organized, of which Richard "Wright 
was captain, Daniel Howe lieutenant, and Richard Walker en- 
sign. The officers were not chosen by the people, but appointed 
by the governor. The company possessed two iron cannon, 
called ' sakers, or great guns.' 

There is a story that two of the early settlers went to Nahant 
for fowl, and separated. One of them killed a seal on Pond 
Beach, and, leaving him, went after some birds. When he re- 
turned, he found a bear feeding on his seal. He fired at him a 
charge of shot, which caused him to fall, and then beat him with 
his six foot gun till it broke. The bear then stood up, wounded 
the man, and tore his clothes; but the man, extricating himself, 
ran into the pond, where he remained until his companion came 
and relieved him. They then returned to the town and informed 
the people, who went down in the evening and made a fire on 
the beach, which they kept burning through the night, to pre- 
vent the bear from coming off. In the morning, they went to 
Nahant and killed him. 

Much mischief was occasioned among the cattle, for many 
years, by the wolves, which, Wood says, used to travel in com- 
panies often or twelve.' On the thirteenth of September, says 
Winthrop, ' the wolves killed some swine at Saugus.' On the 
ninth of November, the Court ordered, that if any one killed a 
wolf, he should have one penny for each cow and horse, and 
one farthing for each sheep and swine in the plantation. Many 
pits were dug in the woods to entrap them, and some of them 
are yet to be seen. It is said that a woman, as she was ram- 
bling in the woods for berries, fell into one of these pits, from 
which she was unable to extricate herself In the evening, a 
wolf made her a very unceremonious visit, dropping down at 
her side, through the bushes with which the pit was covered. 
Finding himself entrapped, and being as much afraid of the 
woman as she was of him, he retired to the opposite corner of 
the pit; and thus they remained through the night, ogling each 
other with any looks but those of an enamored couple. The 
next day, the friends of the woman arrived at the jiit, from which 
they took her without injury, and prevented any future visit from 
her rude and unwelcome intruder. 
10 



74 H I S T O R Y O F L Y .\ N. [l63l. 



1631. In the early part of this year, provisions were very 
scarce, and many persons depended for their subsistence upon 
clams, ground-nuts, and acorns. Wheat was sold for fourteen 
shiHings ($3.11) a bushel; and Indian corn, brought from Vir- 
ginia, for eleven shillings ($2.44). The price of cattle, for sev- 
eral years, continued very high. A good cow was valued at 
twenty-five pounds, ($111.11,) and a yoke of oxen at forty 
pounds ($177.77). 

On the third of February, the Court laid a tax of sixty pounds, 
to make a palisade or defence about Newtown, now Cambridge. 
The proportion of Saugus and Marble Harbour, or Lynn and 
Marblehead, was six pounds. 

On the eighteenth of February, a vessel owned by Mr. John 
Glover, of Dorchester, was wrecked on Nahant rocks ; but the 
crew were all saved. 

The Court, on the first of March, ordered, ' That if any per- 
son, within the Lymitts of this Patent, doe trade, trucke, or sell 
any money, either silver or golde, to any Indian, or any man that 
knowe of any that shall soe doe, and conceal the same, shall 
forfeit twenty for one. Further it is ordered, that whatever 
person hath received an Indian into their ffamilie as a servant, 
shall discharge themselves of them by the 1th of May next, and 
that noe person shall hereafter entertain any Indian for a servant 
without licence from the Court.' 

Wonohaquaham and Montowampate, the sagamores of Wini- 
simct and Lynn, having been defrauded of twenty beaver skins 
by a man in England, named Watts, went to Governor Winthrop, 
on the twenty-sixth of March, to solicit his assistance in recov- 
ering their value. The governor entertained them kindly, and 
gave them a letter of introduction to Emanuel Downing, Esq., 
an eminent lawyer in London. Tradition says, that Montowam- 
pate went to England, where he was treated with much respect 
as an Indian king; but, disliking the English dehcacies, he 
hastened back to Saugus, to the enjoyment of his clams and 
succatash. 

At tliis time, there was no bridge across Saugus river, and 
peoj)le who travelled to Boston were compelled to pass through 
the woods in the northern part of the town, and ford the stream 
near the iron works, three miles north from the Railroad bridge. 
The following extract from a letter, written by Mr. John Endi- 
cott, of Salem, to Governor Winthrop, on the twelfth of April, 
ilhistrates this custom. Mr. Endicott had just been married. 
He says: 'Right Worshipful, I did hope to have been with you 
in person at the Court, and to that end I put to sea yesterday, 
and was driven back again, the wind being stiff' against us; and 
there being no canoe or boat at Saugus, I must have been con- 



i 



1631.] HI STO RY O F L Y N N. 75 

strained to go to Mistic, and thence about to Charlcstown ; 
which at this time I durst not be so bold, my body beino; at 
present in an ill condition to take cold, and therefore I ])ray you 
to pardon me." 

A quarrel had arisen, a short time previous, between Mr. En- 
dicott and Thomas Dexter, in which the Salem majristrnte so 
far forgot his dignity as to strike Mr. Dexter, who complained to 
the Court at Boston. It was on this occasion that Mr. Endicott 
wrote the letter from which the preceding extract is made. He 
thus continues: 'I desired the rather to have been at Court, 
because I hoar I am much complained of by goodman Dexter 
for striking him ; understanding since it is not lawful for a justice 
of peace to strike. But if you had seen the manner of his car- 
riage, with such daring of me, with his arms akimbo, it would 
have provoked a very patient man. He hath given out, if I had 
a purse he would make me empty it, and if he cannot have jus- 
tice here, he will do wonders in England; and if he cannot 
prevail there, he will try it out with me here at blows. If it 
were lawful for me to try it at blows, and he a fit man for me 
to deal with, you should not hear me complain.' The jury, to 
whom the case was referred, gave their verdict for Mr. Dexter, 
on the third of May, and gave damages ten pounds, ($44.44.) 
Beside the evidence of the blow, Mr. Endicott manifests some- 
what of an irascible disposition in his letter ; and Mr. Dexter 
was not a man to stand for nice points of etiquette on occasions 
of irritability. Some years afterward, having been insulted by 
Samuel Hutchinson, he met him one day on the road, and 
jumping from his horse, he bestowed 'about twenty blows on 
his head and shoulders,' to the no small danger and deray of his 
senses, as well as sensibilities. 

April 12. 'It is ordered, that every Captaine shall traine his 
companie on saterday in every weeke.' 

May 18. 'It is ordered, that no person shall kill any wild 
swine, without a general agreement at some court.' 

July 5. A tax of thirty pounds was laid for the purpose of 
opening a canal from Charles river to Cambridge. The requi- 
sition on Lynn was for one pound. 

Masconomo, the sagamore of Agawam, or Ipswich, having 
committed some offence against the eastern Indians, the Court, 
on the fifth of July, passed an order, forbidding him to enter any 
Englishman's house within one yeai*, under a penalty of ten 
beaver skins. The Taratines, also, undertook to avenge their 
own wrong. On the eighth of August, about one hundred of 
them landed from their canoes, at Ipswich, in the night, and 
killed seven of Masconomo's men, wounding several more, some 
of whom afterwards died. They also wounded Wonohaquaham 
and Montowampate, who were on a visit to that place ; and 



76 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1631. 

carried away Wenuchus, the wife of Montowampate, a captive. 
Slie was detained by them about two months, and was restored 
on tlie intercession of Mr. Abraham Shurd, of Pemaquid, who 
traded with the Indians. She returned on the seventeenth of 
September. For her release, the Taratines demanded a quan- 
tity of wampum and beaver skins. 

The people of Lynn were soon after alarmed by a report, that 
the Taratines intended an attack on them, and appointed men 
each night to keep a watch. Once, about midnight, Ensign 
Richard Walker, who was on the guard, heard the bushes break 
near him, and felt an arrow pass through his coat and 'buff 
waistcoat.' As the night was dark, he could see no one, but he 
discharged his gun, which, being heavily loaded, split in pieces. 
He then called the guard, and returned to the place, when he 
had another arrow shot through his clothes. Deeming it impru- 
dent to proceed in the dark against a concealed enemy, he de- 
sisted from further search until morning. The people then 
assembled, and discharged their cannon into the woods ; after 
which, the Indians gave them no further molestation. 

On the twenty-fifth of October, Governor Winthrop, with 
several of his officers, visited Lynn on foot, passing through the 
ford of Saugus river. They spent the night in Lynn, and the 
next day went to Salem. They returned on the twenty-eighth. 
In passing through Lynn, Governor Winthrop puts down in his 
journal, ' A plentiful crop.' 

Thus have we seen the town, which three years before was 
a wilderness of Indians, now occupied by cottages of white men, 
living in harmony with the natives ; clearing the forest, and cul- 
tivating the soil, and, by the blessing of Providence, reaping a 
rich reward for their labors. The Indians had received them 
with kindness, and given them liberty to settle where they 
pleased ; but some years after, they made an agreement with 
the natives for the land. The deed has shared the fate of the 
lost records; but one of the town treasurers told me that he had 
the deed in his possession about the year 1800, and that the 
compensation was sixteen pounds ten shillings — about seventy- 
three dollars. The people of Salem paid twenty pounds for the 
deed of their town. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Character and Religion of the first settlers — Church established at Lynn — Life of 
Rev. Stephen Bachiler — Poquanum, Sagamore of Nahant, murdered — Thomas 
Dexter punished — Mill built — Wood's description of Lynn — Montowampate 
dies — Hon. John Humfrey arrives — Great Storm — New Inhabitants — Rev. 
Samuel Whiting settled — Church Covenant— 1632 to 1636. 

To what famed college we our Ticar owe, 
To what fair country, let historians show j 
But let applause be dealt in all we may. 
Our priest was cheerful, and in season gay. 




HE great body of the first settlers of Massa- 
chusetts were members of the church of Eng- 
land. After they had gone aboard the ships, 
they addressed a letter ' To the rest of their 
brethren in and of the Church of England,' in 
which they say : ' We desire you would be 
pleased to take notice of the principals and 
body of our company, as those who esteem it 
our honor to call the Church of England, from 
whence w^e rise, our dear Mother ; and cannot 
depart from our native country where she 
specially resideth, without much sadness of heart, and many tears 
in our eyes ; ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we 
have obtained in the common salvation, we have received it 
from her bosom.' Prince, who stands in the first rank of our 
historians, says : ' They had been chiefly born and brought up in 
the national church, and had, until tlieir separation, lived in 
commvniion with her ; their ministers had been ordained by her 
bishops, and had ofiiciated in her parish churches, and had made 
no secession from her until they left their native land.' The 
author of the Planter's Plea, printed in 1G30, says: ' It may be 
with good assurance maintained, that at least three parts out of 
four, of the men there planted, are able to justify themselves to 
have lived in a constant course of conformity unto our church 
government.' Morton, in his Memorial says, when the ministers 
were accused, 'They answered for themselves; they were 
neither separatists nor anabaptists ; they did not separate from 
the Church of England, nor from the ordinances of God there ; 



78 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1632. 

and the generality of the people did well approve of the min- 
isters answer.' Backns, who had no partiality for the chnrch, 
but who could nevertheless speak the trnth, says : ' The gov- 
ernor and company of the Massachusetts colony held communion 
witli the national church, and reflected on their brethren who 
separated from her.' Mr. Hubbard, who was well acquainted 
with many of them, says : ' They always walked in a distinct 
path from the rigid separatists, nor did they ever disown the 
Church of England to be a true church.' The puritans of Ply- 
mouth colony, were the 'rigid separatists,' and they continued a 
separate government until the year 1692. Some historians have 
confounded these facts, and have thus misled their readers. 

Among the early settlers of Lynn were some persons of high 
reputation, and most of them appear to have been men of good 
character, and of comfortable property. There is no evidence 
that any of them had abandoned the church, or been persecuted 
for their o|»inions, with the exception of the Rev. Stephen 
Bachiler, and the few persons in his connexion. Governor 
Winthrop, who came over with them, begins his journal on 
' Easter Monday,' which Mr. Savage says was ' duly honored ;' 
and it is not until nearly five years after, that we catch a glimpse 
of his puritanism, when he begins to date on the 'eleventh 
month.' 

1632. For the first three years, the people of Lynn had no 
minister, but some of them attended church at Salem, and others 
had meetings for prayer and exhortation. The Rev. Stephen 
Bachiler, with his family, arrived at Boston on Thursday, the 
fifth of June, after a tedious passage of eighty-eight days. He 
came in the ship William and Francis, Captian Thomas, which 
sailed from London on the ninth of March. He immediately 
came to Lynn, where his daughter Theodate, wife of Christo- 
pher Hussey resided. He was seventy-one years of age. In 
his company were six persons who had belonged to a church 
with him in England; and of these he constituted a church at 
Lynn, to Avhich he admitted such as desired to become mem- 
bers, and commenced the exercise of his public ministrations on 
Sunday, the eighth of June, without installation. He baptized 
four children, born before his arrival; two of whom, Thomas 
Newhall and Stei)hen Hussey, were born the same week. 
Thomas, being the first white child born in Lynn, was first pre- 
sented ; but Mr. Bachiler put him aside, saying, ' I will baptise 
my own child first' — meaning his daughter's child. 

The church at Lynn was the fifth in Massachusetts. The 
first was gathered at Salem, August 6, 1629; the second at 
Dorchester in June, 1630; the third at Charlestown, July 30, 
1630, and removed to Boston ; the fourth at Watertown on tho 



1032] II I S T O R Y O F L V N N . 79 

same day ; and the fifth at Lynn, June 8, 1632. The first meet- 
ins-house was a small plain building, without bell or cupola, and 
stood on the northeastern corner of tjhepard and Summer streets. 
It was placed in a small hollow, that it might be better sheltered 
from the winds, and was partly sunk into the earth, being entered 
by descending several steps. 

In the General Court on the ninth of May, ' A proposition was 
made by the people that every company of trained men might 
choose their own captain and officers ; but the governor, giving 
them reasons to the contrary, they were satisfied without it.' 

On the fourteenth of June, as Captain Richard Wright was 
returning from the eastward, in a vessel, with about eight hun- 
dred dollars' worth of goods on board, one of the crew, when off 
Portsmouth, proceeded to light his pipe ; but was requested to 
desist, as there was a barrel of powder on board. He replied 
that ' he should take one pipe if the devil carried him away.' 
The boat and the men, says Winthrop, were presently blown to 
pieces ; but the rest of the crew, though some of them were 
drunk and asleep, escaped. 

Governor Winthrop, in his journal, August fourteenth, remarks : 
' This week they had, in barley and oats, at Sagas, about twenty 
acres good corn, and sown with the plough.' 

On the fourth of September, Richard Hopkins, of Watertown, 
was arraigned for selling a gun and pistol, with powder and shot, 
to Montowampate, the Lynn sagamore. The sentence of the 
Court was that he should 'be severely whippt, and branded 
with a hot iron on one of his cheekes.' One of the Saugus 
Indians gave the information, on promise of concealment, for 
his discovery would have exposed him to the resentment of his 
tribe. 

Captain Nathaniel Turner was chosen, by the General Court, 
' constable of Saugus for this year, and till a new be chosen.' 

In consequence of a suspicion that the Indians were conspir- 
ing the destruction of the whites, the neighboring sagamores 
were called before the governor on the fourteenth of September. 
The readiness with which they appeared evinced their friendly 
disposition. 

Mr. Bachiler had been in the performance of his pastoral 
duties about four months, when a complaint was made of some 
irregularities in his conduct. He was arraigned before the 
Court at Boston, on the third of October, when the following 
order was ])assed : 'Mr. Bachiler is required to forbcare exer- 
cising his gifters as a pastor or teacher publiqucly in oin- Fattent, 
unlesse it be to those he brought witii liim, for his contein[)t of 
authority, and until some scandlcs be removed.' This was the 
commencement of a series of dilficulties wdiich agitated the 
unhappy church for several years. 



60 II I S T O R V O F I. Y N N . [1633. 

October 3. ' It is ordered that Saugus plantation shall have 
liberty to build a ware upon Saugus Ryver; also they have 
promised to make and continually to keepe a goode foote bridge, 
upon the most convenient place there.' This wear was chiefly 
built by Thomas Dexter, for the purpose of taking bass and 
alewives, of which many were dried and smoaked for shipping. 
It crossed the river near the iron-works. The bridge was only 
a rude structure of timber and rails. 

' It is further ordered, that no person shall take any tobacco 
publiquely, under pain of punishment ; also that every one shall 
pay one penny for every time he is convicted of taking tobacco 
in any place.' 

On the second of November, a vessel commanded by Captain 
Pierce, and loaded with fish, of which Mr. John Humfrey was 
part owner, was wrecked off Cape Charles, and twelve men 
drowned. 

November 7. ' It is ordered that the Captaines shall train 
their companyes but once a monethe.' 

' It is referred to Mr. Turner, Peter Palfrey, and Roger Conant, 
to sell out a proportion of land in Saugus for John Humfrey, 
Esqr.' This land was laid out at Swampscot. Mr. Turner was 
also one of a committee to settle a difference respecting the 
boundary line between Cambridge and Charlestown. 

In the month of December, a servant girl, in the family of the 
Rev. Samuel Skelton of Salem, coming to see her friends at 
Lynn, lost her way, and wandered seven days. Mr. Winthrop 
says, • All that time she was in the woods, having no kind of 
food, the snow being very deep, and as cold as at any time 
that winter. She was so frozen into the snow some mornings, 
as she was one hour before she cold get up.' Mr. Wood says, 
' The snow being on the ground at first, she might have trackt 
her own footsteps back again ; but wanting that understanding, 
she wandred, till God by his speciall Providence brought her 
back to the place she went from, where she lives to this day.' 

1633. In the month of January, this year, Poquanum, the 
sagamore of Nahant was unfortunately killed. Several vessels 
having been to the eastward in search of some pirates, stopped 
on their return at Richmond's Isle, near Portland, where they 
found ' Black WiUiam,' whom they hanged in revenge for the 
murder of Walter Bagnall, who had been killed by the Indians, 
on the third of October, 1631. Mr. Winthrop says that Bagnall 
' was a wicked fellow, and had much wronged the Indians.' It 
is not certain that Poquanum had any concern in his death; on 
the contrary, Governor Winthrop tells that he was killed by 
* Squidraysett and his Indians.' Thus terminated the existence 
of a chief who had welcomed the white men, and bestowed 
benefits on them. 



1633.] HISTORY OF LVNN. 81 

In the course of a few months, Mr. Bachiler had so far suc- 
ceeded in regaining the esteem of the people, ihat the Court, on 
the fourth of March, removed their inj unction that he should not 
preach in the colony, and left him at liberty to resume the per- 
formance of his public services. 

At the same Court, Mr. Thomas Dexter was ordered to ' be 
set in the bilbowes, disfranchised, and fined X£. for speaking 
reproachful and seditious words against the government here 
established.' The bilbows were a kind of stocks, like those in 
which the hands and feet of poor Hudibras were confined. 

' The Kniffht 



And brave squire from their steeds alight, 
At the outer wall, near which there stand.s 
A Bastile, made to imprison hands, 
By strange enchantment made to fetter 
The lesser parts, and free the greater. 

One of these elegant and commodious appendages of the law, 
was placed near the meeting-house ; where it stood the terror 
and punishment of all such evil doers as spoke against govern- 
ment, chewed tobacco, or went to sleep in a sermon two hours 
long. However censurable Mr. Dexter may have been, his 
punishment was certainly disproportioned to his fault. To be 
deprived of the privileges of a freeman, to be exposed to the 
ignominy of the stocks, and to be amerced in a fine of more than 
forty dollars, show that the magistrates were greatly incensed 
by his remarks. If every man were to be set in the bilbows, 
who speaks against government in these days, there would 
scarcely be trees enough in Lynn woods to make stocks of 
The magistrates of those days had not acquired the lesson, which 
their successors have long since learned, that censure is the tax 
which public men must pay for their adventitious greatness. 

On the fourth of JMarch, Mr. Nathaniel Turner was chosen 
by the General Court, ' Captaine of the military company att 
Saugus.' 

Captain Turner gave ten pounds ' towards the sea fort,' built 
for the defence of Boston harbor. Captain Richard Wright gave 
' 400 feet 4 inch planke,' for the same purpose. 

Mr. Edward Howe was fined twenty shillings, ' for selling 
stronge waters, contrary to order of Court.' 

At a town meeting on the twelfth of July, the inhabitants 
made a grant to Mr. Edward Tomlins, of a privilege to build a 
corn-mill, at the mouth of the stream which flows from the Flax 
pond, where Chase's mill now stands. This was the second 
mill in the colony, the first having been built at Dorchester the 
same year. At this time, the pond next above the Flax pond 
was partly a meadow ; and some years after a dam was built 
and the pond raised by Edward Tomlins, from whom it was 
11 



82 H I ST O R Y O F L YNN. [lG33. 

called Tomlin's pond. In reference to this mill, we find the 
following testimonies, given June 3, 1678, in the Essex Kegis- 
try of Deeds. 

' I, George Keaser, Aged about 60 yeare, doe testifie, that 
being at a Towne meetinge in Linne meeting house many 
yeares agoe, mr. Edward Tomlins made complaint then to the 
Towne of Linne, that there was not water enough in the great 
pond next to the Towne of Linne to serve the mill to grind theire 
grist in the sumer time, and he desired leave of the Towne to 
make a dam in the upper pond to keep a head of water against 
the height of sumer time, that soe he might have a suply of 
water to Grind their Grist in the drought of sumer. And the 
Towne of linne granted him his request, that he would make a 
dam there, where the old trees lay for a bridge for all people to 
goe over, insteed of a bridg.' 

'This I, Clement Coldam, aged about 55 years, doe testifie, 
that the grant of the old mill was in July ye 12, 1633, to Edward 
Tomlins, which was the second mill in this colony ; and after 
the Towne saw that the mill could not supply the Towne, they 
gave leave to build an overshoot mill upon the same water ; 
with a sluice called by the name of the old sluce, being made 
by Mr. Howell, the second owner of the mill ; and then Mr. 
Howell did sell the same mill to John Elderkin ; and John El- 
derkin did sell it to mr. Bennet, and mr. Bennet did sell it to 
Goodman Wheeler, and Goodman Wheeler sould it to John 
Ballard, and John Ballard sold it to Henry Rhodes. And this I 
testifie that the water to supply the mill with, was granted to 
the mill, before any Meddow in the Towne was granted to any 
man, wee mowing all comon then. And this I testifie, that I 
kept the key of the old sluce for mr. South, which is since about 
27 or 28 yeares agoe.' 

Edward Richards testified, that Mr. Tomlins ' was not to stop 
or hinder the alewives to go up to the great pond.' 

The following description of ancient Saugus and Nahant is 
extracted from ' New England's Prospect,' written this year by 
Wilham Wood of Lynn, and which he says was undertaken, 
' because there hath been many scandalous and false reports 
past upon the country, even from the sulphurous breath of every 
base ballad monger.' 

' The next plantation is Saugus, sixe miles northeast from 
Winnesimet. This Towne is pleasant for situation, seated in 
the bottom of a Bay, which is made on one side with the sur- 
rounding shore, and on the other with a long, sandy Beach. 
This sandy beach is two miles long at the end, whereon is a 
necke of land called Nahant. It is sixe miles in circumference, 
well wooded with Oakes, Pines, and Cedars. It is beside, well 
watered, having beside the fresh Springs, a great Pond in the 



1633.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 83 

middle, before which is a spacious Marsh. In this necke is 
store of good ground, fit for the Plow; but for the present it is 
only used for to put 3-oung Cattle in, and weather Goates, and 
Swine, to secure them from the Woolues; a few posts and rayles, 
from the low water markes to the shore, keepes out the Woolves, 
and keepes in the Cattle. One Blacke William, an Indian Duke, 
out of his generosity, gave this place in generall to this planta- 
tion of Saugus, so that no other can appropriate it to himselfe. 

' Vpon the South side of the Sandy Beach, the Sea beateth, 
which is a true prognostication to presage stormes and foule 
weather, and the breaking up of the Frost. For when a storme 
hath beene, or is likely to be, it will roare like Thunder, being 
heard sixe miles ; and after stormes casts up great stores of great 
Clammes, which the Indians, taking out of their shels, carry 
home in baskets. On the North side of this Bay is two great 
Marshes, which are made two by a pleasant Ptiver, which 
runnes between them. Northward up this river goes great 
store of Alewives, of which they make good Red Herrings ; 
insomuch that they have been at charges to make them a 
wayre, and a Herring house to dry these Herrings in ; the last 
year were dried some 4 or 5 Last * for an experiment, which 
proved very good ; this is like to prove a great inrichment to the 
land, being a staple commodity in other Countries, for there be 
such innumerable companies in every river, that I have seen 
ten thousand taken in two houres, by two men, without any 
weire at all, saving a few stones to stop their passage up the 
river. There likewise come store of Basse, which the English 
and Indians catch with hooke and line, some fifty or three score 
at a tide. At the mouth of this river runnes up a great Creeke 
into that great Marsh, which is called Rumny Marsh, which is 
4 miles long, and 2 miles broad, halfe of it being Marsh ground, 
and halfe upland grasse, without tree or bush; this Marsh is 
crossed with divers creekes, wdierein lye great store of Geese 
and Duckes. There be convenient Ponds, for the planting of 
Duck coyes. Here is likewise belonging to this place, divers 
fresh Meddowcs, which afford good grasse ; and foure spacious 
Ponds, like little Lakes, wherein is good store of fresh Fish, 
within a mile of the Towne ; out of which runnes a curious fresh 
Brooke, that is seldom frozen, by reason of the warmnesse of 
the water ; upon this stream is built a water Milne, and up this 
river come Smelts and frost fish, much bigger than a Gudgeon. 
For wood there is no want, there being store of good Oakes, 
Wallnut, Cedar, Aspe, Elme. The ground is very good, in many 
places without trees, and fit for the plougli. In this place is more 
English tillage than in all New England and Virginia besides ; 

* 150 Barrels. 



84 H I S T O R y O K L Y N N . [1633. 

which proved as well as could be expected ; the corn being very 
good, especially the Barley, Rye and Gates. 

' The land affordeth to the inhabitants as many varieties as 
any place else, and the sea more ; the Basse continuing from 
the middle of April to Michaelmas,* which stayes not half that 
time in the Bay ;t besides, here is a great deal of Rock cod and 
Macrill, insomuch that shoales of Basse have driven up shoales 
of Macrill, from one end of the sandy Beach to the other ; which 
the inhabitants have gathered up in wheelbarrows. The Bay 
which lyeth before the Towne, at a lowe spring tyde will be all 
flatts for two miles together ; upon which is great store of Mus- 
cle banckes, and Clam banckes, and Lobsters amongst the rockes 
and grassie holes. These flatts make it unnavigable for shippes ; 
yet at high water, great Boates, Loiters, $ and Pinnaces of 20 
and 30 tun, may saile up to the plantation ; but they neede have 
a skilful Pilote, because of many dangerous rockes and foaming 
breakers, that lye at the mouth of that Bay. The very aspect 
of the place is fortification enough to keepe of an unknowne 
enemie ; yet it may be fortified at little charge, being but few 
landing places thereabout, and those obscure.' 

Of the health of Lynn, Mr. Wood remarks : ' Out of that 
Towne, from whence I came, in three years and a half, there 
died but three ; to make good which losses, I have seene foure 
children Baptized at one time.' Prefixed to his book, is the 
following address, written by some one in England, who signs 
himself s. w. 

' Thanks to thy travel and thyself, who hast 
Much knowledge in so small room comptly placed, 
And thine experience thus a mound dost make, 
From whence we may New England's prospect take, 
Though many thousands distant ; therefore thou 
Thyself shall sit upon mount praise her brow. 
For if the man who shall the short cut find 
Unto the Indies, shall for that be shrined, 
Sure thou deservest then no small praise who 
So short cut to New England here dost shew ; 
And if than this small thanks thou get'st no more 
Of thanks, I then will say the world's grown poor.' 

The ' curious fresh broocke ' which Mr. Wood notices, is 
Strawberry Brook ; which is kept warm by the numerous springs 
beneath the pond in which it originates, and by its constant 
flowing for the supply of several mills. Mr. Robert Mansfield, 
who lived near its source, told me that he had never seen it 
frozen for more than seventy years. 

A tax made by the General Court, on the first of October, 
will show the relative wealth of the several towns. The ap- 

* September 29. f Boston Harbor. i Lighters. 



1633.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N. 85 

portionment was, to Dorchester, 80 pounds ; to Boston, Charles- 
town, Cambridge, Watertow^n, and Roxbury, each, 48 pounds ; 
Lynn, 36 ; Salem, 28.' At several assessments, Lynn was in 
advance of Salem. 

Such great quantities of corn having been used for fattening 
swine, as to occasion a scarcity, the Court ordered, on the fifth 
of November, ' That no man shall give his swine any corn, but 
such as, being viewed by two or three neighbors, shall be judged 
unfit for man's meat; and every plantation may agree how many 
swine every person may keep.' 

The Court ordered, that every man, in each plantation, 
excepting magistrates and ministers, should pay for three day's 
w©rk, at one shilling and sixpence each, for completing the Fort 
in Boston harbor. 

The ministers of Lynn and the western towns were in the 
practice of meeting at each other's houses, once in two weeks, 
to discuss important questions. The ministers of Salem were 
averse to the practice, fearing it might eventuate in the estab- 
lishment of a presbytery. 

On the fourth of December, corresponding with the fifteenth 
of new style, the snow was ' knee deep,' and the rivers frozen. 

The year 1633 was rendered memorable by the death of the 
three Indian sagamores. In January, Pequanum was murdered ; 
and in December, Wonohaquaham and Montowampate died. 
Governor Winthrop, in his journal, says : ' December 5. John 
Sagamore died of the small pox, and almost all his people ; above 
thirty buried by Mr. Maverick of Winesemett in one day. The 
towns in the bay took away many of the children ; but most of 
them died soon after. 

'James Sagamore of Sagus died also, and most of his folks. 
John Sagamore desired to be brought among the English; so 
he was ; and promised, if he recovered, to live with the English 
and serve their God. He left one son, which he disposed to 
Mr. Wilson, the pastor of Boston, to be brought up by him. He 
gave to the governor a good quantity of wampompeague, and to 
divers others of the English he gave gifts ; and took order for 
the payment of his own debts and his men's. He died in a 
persuasion that he should go to the Englishmen's God. Divers 
of them, in their sickness, confessed that the Englishmen's God 
was a good God, and that if they recovered they would serve 
him. It \vrought much with them, that when their own people 
forsook them, yet the English came daily and ministered to them ; 
and yet few, only two families, took any infection by it. Amongst 
others Mr. Maverick, of Winesemett is worthy of a perpetual 
remembrance. Himself, his wife and servants, went daily to 
them, ministered to their necessities, and buried their dead, 
and took home many of their children. So did other of the 
neighbors.' 



86 H I S T O KY O F L Y N N , [1634. 

After the death of his brothers, Wenepoykin became saga- 
more of the remaining Indians in this region. 

1634. The inconvenience of having the Legislature com- 
posed of the whole number of freemen, and the danger of leav- 
ing the plantations exposed to the attacks of the Indians, induced 
the people to form a House of Representatives, who first assem- 
bled on the fourteenth of May. Eight towns were represented, 
each of which sent three representatives — Boston, Charlestown, 
Roxbury, Dorchester, Cambridge, Watertown, Lynn and Salem. 
The representatives from Lynn were Captain Nathaniel Turner, 
Edward Tomlins, and Thomas WilUs. The General Court this 
year consisted of the Governor, Deputy Governor, six assistants 
and twenty-four representatives. This number was not much 
increased for many years ; each town sending fewer, rather than 
more representatives. 

Hon. John Humfrey, with his wife, the Lady Susan, a daugh- 
ter of the Earl of Lincoln, arrived in July. He brought with 
him a valuable present from Mr. Richard Andrews, an alderman 
of London, consisting of sixteen heifers, at this time valued at 
more than eighty dollars each. One of them was designed for 
each of the eight ministers, and the remainder were for the 
poor. He went to reside on his farm at Swampscot, which had 
been laid out by order of the Court. It consisted of five hun- 
dred acres, ' between Forest river and the cliff' The bounds 
extended ' a mile from the seaside,' and ran ' to a great white oak 
by the rock,' including ' a spring south of the oak.' The spring 
is on Mr. Stetson's farm, and the 'old oak' is still standing about 
a furlong north, where it is hoped it will long be suffered to re- 
main, a living memorial of other times. 

O spare the tree, whose dewy tears 
Have fallen for a thousand years ! 
Beneath whose shade, in days of old, 
The careful shei)herd watched his fold ; 
On whose green top the eagle sate, 
To watch the tish hawk's watery weight ; 
And oft in moonlight by whose side, 
The Indian wooed his dusky bride! 
It speaks to man of early time. 
Before the earth was stained with crime 
Ere cannon waked our peaceful plains, 
When silence ruled her vast domains. 
O, as you love the bold and free. 
Spare, woodman, spare the old oak tree ! 

Since the publication of these lines in the first edition, Mr. 
Morris has written his admirable song, ' Woodman, spare that 
tree ! ' But, alas ! the old oak, the last of the ancient forest of 
Lynn, has been cut down. Some people have no sentiment. 



1 635.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 87 

On the third of September, the Court ordered, ' That Mr. Ed- 
ward Tomlins, or any other put in his place, by the Commis- 
sioners of War, with the help of an assistant, shall have power 
to presse men and carts, for ordinary wages, to helpe towards 
makeing of such carriages and wheeles as -are wanting for the 
ordinances.' 

On training day. Captain Turner, by the direction of Colonel 
Humfrey, went with his company to Nahant, to hunt the wolves 
by which it was infested. This was very pleasant amusement 
for training day. 

1635. Though an agreement had been made by Thomas 
Dexter with the Indian chief, for the proprietorship of Nahant, 
yet the town evidently regarded it as their property ; as will ap- 
pear by the following extracts from the Town Records, preserved 
in the files of the General Court: 

January 11. 'It is also voted by the freemen of the towne, 
that these men underwritten shall have liberty to plant and 
build at Nahant, and shall possess each man land for the said 
purpose, and proceeding in the trade of fishing. Mr. Humfreys, 
Daniel How, Mr. Ballard, Joseph Redknap, Timothy Tomlins, 
Richard Walker, Thomas Talmage, Henry Feakes, Francis 
Dent.' 

January 18. *It is ordered by the freemen of the towne, that 
all such persons as are assigned any land at Nahant, to further 
the trade of making fish, That if they do not proceed accordingly 
to forward the said trade, but either doe grow remiss, or else doe 
give it quite over, that then all such lotts shall be forfeited again 
to the towne, to dispose of as shall be thought fitte.' 

The dissensions which had commenced in Mr. Bachiler's 
church at an early period, began again to assume a formidable 
appearance. Some of the members, disliking the conduct of 
the pastor, and ' withal making a question whether they were 
a church or not,' wathdrew from the communion. Mr. Bachiler 
requested them to present their grievances in writing, but as 
they refused to do that, he gave information that he should pro- 
ceed to excommunicate them. In consequence of this, a council 
of ministers was held on the fifteenth of March. After a de- 
liberation of three days, they decided, that although the church 
had not been properly instituted, yet the mutual exercise of 
their religious duties had supplied the defect. 

The difficulties in the self-constituted church, however, did 
not cease with the decision of the council, but continued to in- 
crease, until Mr. Bachiler, perceiving no prospect of their termi- 
nation, requested a dismission for himself and his first members, 
which was granted. 

The celebrated Hugh Peters, who had just arrived in America, 



88 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1C35. 

was next employed to preach, and the people requested him to 
become their minister ; but he preferred to exercise the duties 
of that office at Salem. He was a very enterprising man, but 
seems to have been much better adapted for a politician than a 
minister. He was a great favorite of Johnson, the Woburn poet, 
who thus alludes to his preaching, and to the difficulties at 
Lynn: 

' With courage Peters, a soldier stout, 
In wilderness for Christ begins to war ; 
Much work he finds 'mongst people yet hold out, 
With fluent tongue he stops phantastic jar.' 

He returned to England in 1641, and unhappily became in- 
volved in the ambitious designs of Cromwell, — preached the 
funeral sermon over the ' grey discrowned head ' of the unfortu- 
nate Charles the First — and was executed for treason on the 
sixteenth of October, 1660. He left ' A Father's Legacy to an 
Only Child ; ' written in the Tower of London, and addressed, 
' For Elizabeth Peters, my dear Child.' He says, ' I was the 
son of considerable parents from Foy in Cornwall. I am heartily 
sorry I was ever popular, and known better to others than to 
myself And if I go shortly where time shall be no more, where 
cock nor clock distinguish hours, sink not, but lay thy head in 
his bosom who can keep thee, for he sits upon the waves. 
Farewell. 

' I wish thee neither poverty nor riches, 
But godliness, so gainful with content; 
No painful pomp, nor glory that bewitches, 
A blameless life is the best monument! ' 

It was the custom in those early days to have an hourglass in 
the pulpit, by which the minister timed his sermons. A painter of 
that day made a picture, in which he represented Mr. Peters 
turning an hour glass and saying, ' I know you are good fellows ; 
stay and take another glass I ' 

'The standard borne at this time was a red cross in a white 
field. This emblem was not congenial to the feelings of Mr. 
Endicott, and he ordered it to be cut out from the banner at Sa- 
lem. This occasioned much dissatisfaction among the people, 
and a committee from each town was appointed in May, to con- 
sider of the offence. They judged it to be ' great, rash, and 
without discretion,' and disqualified him, for one year, from bear- 
ing any public office. 

May 6. ' There is 500 acres of land, and a freshe Pond, with 
a little Island, conteyning about two acres, granted to John 
Humfrey Esqr., lying between north and west of Saugus ; pro- 
vided he take no part of the 500 acres within five miles of any 
Town now planted. Also, it is agreed that the inhabitants of 
Saugus and Salem, shall have liberty to build store bowses upon 
the said Island, and to lay in such provisions as they shall judge 



1635.] HISTOKYOFLYNN. 89 

necessary for their use in tyme of neede.' The land thus laid 
out was around Humfrey's Pond, in Lynnfield, and was nearly 
one mile in extent. 

On the sixteenth of August happened one of the most tre- 
mendous storms ever known in New England. It beat down 
the corn, overturned houses, and tore up by the roots ' many 
hundred thousands of trees.' The east wind blew with such 
violence, that the tide was turned before the ebb had half fallen, 
and the sea rose many feet, so that some Indians were drowned, 
and others climbed trees for safety. A vessel was wrecked on 
Thacher's Island, and twenty-one persons lost. Mr. Anthony 
Thacher and his wife, ancestors of Rev. Thomas Gushing 
Thacher, afterward minister of Lynn, were the only persons 
saved. 

This year brass farthings were prohibited, and musket bullets 
were ordered to pass for farthings. 

Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this time, whose 
names it will be well to preserve. 

Abraham Belknap had two sons, Abraham and Jeremy ; and 
from him descended Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New 
Hampshire. 

Edmund Bridges came over in July, 1635, and died in 1686, 
aged 74 years. The name of his wife was Mary, and his sons 
John and Josiah. He was the second shoemaker at Lynn. 

James Boutwell, farmer, freeman 1638, died 1651. His wife 
was Alice, and his children, Samuel, Sarah, and John. 

Edward Burcham, freeman, 1638, clerk of the writs, 1645. In 
1656 he returned to England. 

George Burt came to Lynn in 1635, and died November 2, 
1661. He was a farmer, and the value of his estate was 
£144.4.9. He had three sons; George, who went to Sandwich 
in 1637; Hugh, born 1591; and Edward, who removed to 
Charlestown. 

Henry Collins was a starch maker, and lived in Essex street. 
He embarked in the Abigail of London, on the thirtieth of June, 
1635. In 1639 he was a member of the Salem Court. He was 
born in 1606, and was buried February 20, 1687, at the age of 81 
years. His wife Ann was born in 1605. His children were 
Henry, born 1630; John, born 1032; Margery, born 1633; and 
Joseph, born 1635, and his descendants remain. 

John Cooper embarked in the Hopewell, of London, April 1, 
1635. He was born at Oney, in Buckinghamshire, in 1594. 

Timothy Cooper, farmer, died in March, 1659. His children 
were Mary, Hannah, John, Timothy, Dorcas, and Rebecca. 

Jenkin Davis, joiner, freeman 1637, died 1661. His wife was 
Sarah, and he had a son John. 
12 



90 HISTORYOFLl'NN, [l 635. 

John Deacon was the first blacksmith at Lynn, and m 1638 
had twenty acres of land allotted to him. 

Edmund Freeman, born in 1590, came to Lynn in 1635. He 
removed to Sandwich in 1637, and was an assistant of Plymouth 
colony in 1640. His children were Elizabeth, Alice, Edmund, 
and John. Mr. Freeman presented the colony with twenty 
corslets, or pieces of plate armor. 

Edmund Farrington embarked in the Hopewell, of London, 
April 1, 1635, with his wife and four children.* He was a na- 
tive of Oney, in Buckinghamshire ; born in 1568. He was a far- 
mer, and had 200 acres of land, part of which was on the 
western side of Federal street, where he lived, and part on the 
western side of Myrtle street, where the land is well known as 
' Farrington's Field.' In 1655 he built a corn mill on Water 
Hill, where a pond was dug, and a water course opened for half 
a mile, called ' Farrington's Canal.' He died in 1670, aged 82 
years. The name of his wife was Elizabeth ; born in 1586. 
His children were Sara, born in 1621; Martha, born in 1623; 
John, born in 1624; and Elizabeth, born in 1627, and married 
John Fuller in 1646. He also had a son Matthew, to whom, on 
the 16th of June, he gave half his corn mill, 'except the tole of 
my son ffuUer's grists, which is well and duly to be ground tole 
free, during the life of my daughter Elizabeth. t 

Christopher Foster embarked in the Abigail, of London, June 
17, 1635. He was a farmer, was admitted a freeman in 1637, and 
lived in Nahant street. He was born in 1603. His wife Frances 
was born in 161 0. His children were Rebecca, born 1 630 ; Na- 
thaniel, born 1033; and John, born 1634. 

Joseph Floyd lived in Fayette street. In 1666, he sold his 
house and land to ' Henry Silsbee of Ipswich,' for thirty-eight 
pounds, and removed to Chelsea. His land is described as 
bounded ' west next the town common, and east next a little 
river.' The 'town common' then meant the public lands in 
Woodend; and the 'little river' was Stacey's brook. 

George Fraile died December 9, 1663. He had a son George, 
who was accidentally killed in 1069, 'by a piece of timber, of 
about fifteen hundred weight, rolling over him.t 

Dennis Geere came from Thesselworth to Lynn in 1635. He 
was born in 1605, and his wife Elizabeth was born in 1613. 
His children were Elizabeth and Sara. He died in 1635, and 
gave, by his will, £300 to the colony. 

Nathaniel Handforth was a ' haberdasher,' from London, and 
lived on the north side of the common. He was buried Sep- 
tember 13, 1687, aged 79 years. 

Richard Johnson came over in 1630, and lived with Sir Rich- 

*Records in Westminster Hall, London f Salem Ooun files 



1635.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 91 

ard Saltonstall, at Watertown. He was admitted a freeman in 
1637. He came to Lynn the same year, and settled as a farmer, 
on the eastern end of the common. He died in 1666, aged 54 
years. His children were Daniel, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Abi- 
gail. His descendants remain. ^ 

Philip Kertland was the tirst shoemaker known at Lynn. 
His name is from the German Cortlandt, or Lack-land ; and I 
think it Avas afterwards changed to Kirkland. He was from 
Sherrington, in Buckinghamshire, and in 1638 had ten acres of 
land allotted to him by the town. He had two sons, Philip, born 
in 1614, and Nathaniel, born in 1616, who embarked on board 
the Hopewell, of London, William Burdock, master, on the first 
of April, 1635. The two sons remained at Lynn five years, and 
in 1640 went to form the new settlement of Southampton on 
Long Island. Nathaniel returned to Lynn, married, and had 
three children; Nathaniel, Sarah, and Priscilla He was buried 
December 27, 1686, aged 70 years. 

The following is from the Essex Registry, October 14, 1659: 
' Know all men by these presents, that I, Evan Thomas, of Bos- 
ton, being about to many the widow Alice Kertland of Lynn, 
do engage to and agree not to sell or alienate her now dwelling 
house and land.' 

Francis Lightfoot, freeman 1636, died 1646, He came from 
London, and the name of his wife was Anne 

Thomas Laighton, farmer, freeman, 1638, lived in Franklin 
street. He was representative in 1646, and town clerk in 1672. 
He died August 8, 1697. His children were Thomas, Margaret, 
Samuel, Rebecca, and Elizabeth. 

Richard Longley, farmer, had two sons ; William, clerk of the 
writs in 1655, and Jonathan. 

Captain Thomas Marshall came to Lynn in 1635. He em- 
barked in the James, of London, on the seventeenth of July,* 
and soon after his arrival was admitted a freeman. With 
many others, he returned to England, to join in the ambitious 
designs of Cromwell, by Avhom he was made a captain. He 
served in the army of the anarch for several years, and returned 
to Lynn, laden with military glory. He was six times chosen 
representative. He purchased the tavern, on the west of Sau- 
gus river, which Mr. Joseph Armitage had opened. Here, with 
all the frankness and hospitality of a 'fine old English gentle- 
man,' he kept open doors for the accommodation of the travel- 
ling public, for more than forty years. Mr. John Dunton, who 
passed through Lynn in 1686, thus mentions him in his journal. 



*Hon. James Savage. The public are greatly indebted to this genlleman for his 
intelligent annotations of Gov. Winthrop's Journal, and for his valuable researches 
in the manuscript records of England. 



92 H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . [ 1 636. 

' About two of the clock I reached Capt. Marshall's house, which 
is lialf way between Boston and Salem ; here I staid to refresh 
nature with a pint of sack and a good fowl. Capt. Marshall is a 
hearty old gentleman, formerly one of Oliver's soldiers, upon 
which he very much values himself. He had all the history of 
the civil wars at his fingers' end, and if we may believe him, 
Oliver did hardly any thing that was considerable without his 
assistance; and if I'd have staid as long as he'd have talked, 
he 'd have spoiled my ramble to Salem.' He died December 23, 
1689. His wife, Ptebecca, died in August, 1693. He had two 
sons; John, born January 14, 1659; and Thomas, who removed 
to Reading. 

In the Essex Registry of Deeds is the following testimony, 
which is interesting, as coming from the venerable old hero of 
Cromwell's war : 

' Captain Thomas Marshall, aged about 67 yeares, doe testifie, 
that about 38 yeares since, the ould Water mill at Linn, which 
was an under shott mill, Avas by Mr. Howell committed to him, 
or before the said time, and about 38 yeares since, the building 
of an over shott mill was moved to the towne of Linn, and 
for incuragement to go on with the said worke, they then of the 
Towne of Linn Granted their Priviledges of water and water 
Courses to the said mill, and that this said water mill is now in 
the possession of Henry Roades ; as witness my hand, Thomas 
Marshall; May 12th, 16S3. 

Thomas Parker embarked in the Christopher of London, 
March 11, 1635. He was born 1614. 

John Pierson, farmer, lived in Nahant street, and removed to 
Reading. The name of his wife was Madeline. 

John Pool, farmer, had 200 acres of land. His descendants 
remain. 

Nicholas Potter was a mason, and had sixty acres of land. 

Oliver Purchis, freeman 1636, representative 1660, assistant 
1685, town clerk 1686; removed to Concord 1691, and died 
November 20, 1701, aged 88 years. 

Richard Sadler, farmer, freeman 1638, came from Worcester, 
in England. He lived near the great rock in Holyoke street. 
He was a member of the Salem Court in 1639, and clerk of the 
writs in 1640. He had a son Richard, born in 1610, who re- 
turned to England in 1647, and was ordained May 16, 1648. 

Thomas Townsend was a farmer, and lived near the iron works. 
He died December 22, 1677. His sons were John, Thomas, 
Henry, and Richard. Some of his descendants remain, others 
were among the first settlers of the towns on Long Island. 

1636. Mr. Bachiler had been readily dismissed from his 
pastoral charge, in the expectation that he would desist from its 
exercise, or remove from the town ; instead of which, he re- 



1636.] H I S T O R V^ O F L Y N i\ . 93 

newed his covenant with t^ie persons who came with him from 
England, intending to continue his ministrations. The people 
opposed this design, as its tendency would be to frustrate their 
intention of settling another minister ; they therefore complained 
to the muffistiates, who forbade his proceeding. Finding that* he 
disregarded their injunctions, and refused to appear before them, 
they sent the marshal to compel him. He was brought before 
the Court of Assistants, at Boston, in January, and was dis- 
charged on engaging to leave the town within three months. 

Whoever has attentively read the lives of the early ministers 
of New England, as written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, must 
have noticed that they are all represented to have been men of 
uncommon learning, piety, and worth. This may be imputed 
partly to the embellishments of his pen, and partly to the fact, 
that they were born and educated in the bosom of the church, 
and in the best universities of Europe. We are greatly indebted 
to Mr. Mather for his account of those ministers ; but we should 
have been far more grateful to him, if he had been more partic- 
ular with regard to dates and facts respecting the subjects of his 
biography, instead of devoting so much time and space to the 
worthies of Greece and Ptorae ; for we could easily have pre- 
sumed his acquaintance with ancient history and the classics, 
without so ostentatious a display of it. In his life of Mr. Cob- 
bett, he has given us but one date with certainty — the rest have 
been supplied by my laborious research. Mr. Bachiler he did 
not notice, and the following sketch of his life is the first which 
has ever been oflered to the public. 

The Rev. Stephen Bachiler was born in England in the year 
1651, and received orders in the established church. In the 
early part of his life he enjoyed a good reputation ; but being 
dissatisfied with some of the ceremonies of the church, and re- 
fusing to continue his conformity, he was deprived of his permis- 
sion to perform her services. The church has been much cen- 
sured for lier severity, and all uncharitableness and persecution 
are to be deprecated; but in simply ejecting her ministers for 
non-conformity, after they have approved her mode of worship, 
and in the most solemn manner possible engaged themselves in 
her service, the church is no more censurable than all other com- 
munities, with whom the same practice is common. On leaving 
England, Mr. Bachiler went with his family to Holland, where 
he resided several years. He then returned to London, from 
which place he sailed, on the ninth of March, 1(332, for New 
England. He arrived at Lynn on the sixth of June, having in 
his company six persons, his relatives and friends, who had be- 
longed to his church in Holland. With them, and the few who 
united with them, he constituted a little church at Lynn, without 
any of the ceremonies usual on such occasions. He continued 
his ministrations here for about three years, with repeated inter- 



94 H I S T O R Y O F L V N N . [l636. 

ruptions, but he never had the supjjprt or the affections of the 
great body of the people. He was admitted a freeman on the 
sixth of May, 1635, and removed from Lynn in February, 1636. 
He went first to Ipswich, where he received a grant of fifty 
acres of land, and had the prospect of a settlement : but some 
difficulty having arisen, he left the place. In the very cold win- 
ter of 1637, he went on foot, with some of his friends, to Yar- 
mouth, a distance of about one hundred miles. There he in- 
tended to plant a town, and establish a church; but finding the 
difficulties great, and ' his company being all poor men,' he re- 
linquished the design. He then went to Newbury, where, on 
the sixth of July, 1638, the town made him a grant of land. 
On the sixth of September, the General Court granted him per- 
mission to settle a town at Hampton. In 1639, the inhabitants 
of Ipswich voted to give him sixty acres of upland, and twenty 
acres of meadow, if he would reside with them three years; 
but he did not accept their invitation. On the fifth of July, he 
and Christopher Hussey sold their houses and lands in New- 
bury, for ' six score pounds,' and removed to Hampton. There 
a town was planted, and a church gathered, of which Mr. Bach- 
iler became the minister. The town granted him three hundred 
acres of land, and he presented them with a bell for the meeting 
house, in 1640. Here he was treated with respect, and in 1641, he 
was appointed umpire in an important case of real estate be- 
tween George Cleves and John Winter. Dissensions however 
soon commenced, and the people were divided between him 
and his colleague. Rev. Timothy Dalton. He was also accused 
of irregular conduct, which is thus related by Gov. Winthrop. 

' Mr. Bachiler, the pastor of the church at Hampton, who had 
suffered much at the hands of the bishops in England, being 
about eighty years of age, and having a lusty, comely woman to 
his wife, did solicit the chastity of his neighbor's wife, who ac- 
quainted her husband therewith ; whereupon he was dealt with, 
but denied it, as he had told the woman he would do, and com- 
plained to the magistrates against the woman and her husband 
for slandering him. The church likewise dealing with him, he 
stiffly denied it; but soon after, when the Lord's supper was to 
be administered, he did voluntarily confess the attempt.' 

For this impropriety, he was excommunicated by the church. 
Soon after, his house took fire, and was consumed with nearly 
alibis property. In 1643, he was restored to the communion, 
but not to the office of minister. In 1644, the people of Exeter 
invited him to settle with them ; but the Court laid their injunc- 
tion. In 1647, he was at Portsmouth, where he resided three 
years. In 1650, being then eighty-nine years of age, and his 
second wife, Helena, being dead, he married his third wife, 
Mary; and in May was fined ten pounds, for not publishing his 
intention of marriage, according to law ; half of which fine was 



1636.] H I S T O R Y o F L Y N N . 95 

remitted in October. In the same year, the Court passed the 
following order, in consequence of iheir matrimonial disagree- 
ment : 

' It is ordered by this Court, that Mr. Batchelor and his wife 
shall lyve together as man and wife, as in this Court they have 
publiquely professed to doe ; and if either desert one another, 
then hereby the Court doth order that the marshal shall appre- 
hend both the said Mr. Batchelor and Mary his wife, and bring 
them forthwith to Boston, there to be kept till the next Quarter 
Court of Assistants, that farther consideration thereof may be 
had, both of them moving for a divorce ; and this order shall be 
sufficient order soe to doe ; provided notwithstanding, that if 
they put in £50, each of them, for their appearance, with such 
sureties as the commissioners or any one of them for the 
county shall think good to accept of, that then they shall be un- 
der their baile, to appear at the next Court of Assistants ; and 
in case Mary Batchelor shall live out of the jurisdiction, without 
mutual consent for a time, that then the clarke shall give notice 
to the magistrate att Boston of her absence, that farther order 
may be taken therein.' 

Soon after this, in 1651, Mr Bachelor left the country and re- 
turned to England, where he married his fourth wife, being 
himself ninety years of age, and his third wife Mary being still 
living. In October, 1656, she petitioned the Court, in the fol- 
lowing words, to free her from her husband : 

' To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Mag- 
istrates and Deputies at the General Court at Boston. The 
humble petition of Mary Bachelor sheweth — Whereas your 
petitioner, having formerly lived with Mr. Stephen Bachelor, a 
minister of this Collany, as his lawfull wife, and not unknown to 
divers of you, as I conceive, and the said Mr. Bachelor, upon 
some pretended ends of his owne, hath transported himself unto 
ould England, for many yeares since, and betaken himself to 
another wife, as your petitioner hath often been credibly in- 
formed, and there continueth, whereby your petitioner is left 
destitute, not only of a guide to her and her children, but also 
made uncapable thereby of disposing herselfe in the way of 
marriage to any other, without a lawful permission ; and having 
now two children upon her hands, that are chargeable unto her, 
in regard to a disease God hath been pleased to lay upon them 
both, which is not easily curable, and so weakening her estate 
in prosecuting the means of cure, that she is not able longer to 
subsist, without utter ruining her estate, or exposing herself to 
the common charity of others ; which your petitioner is loth to 
put herself upon, if it may be lawfully avoided, as is well known 
to all, or most part of her neighbors. And were she free from 
her engagement to Mr. Bachelor, might probably soe dispose of 
herselfe, as that she might obtain a meet helpe to assist her to 



96 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1636. 

procure such means for her Hvelyhood, and the recovery of her 
children's health, as might keep them from perishing; which 
your petitioner to her great grief is much afraid of, if not timely 
prevented. Your petitioner's humble request therefore is, that 
this Honored Court would be pleased seriously to consider her 
condition, for matter of her relief in her freedom from the said 
Mr. Bachelor, and that she may be at liberty to dispose of her- 
selfe in respect of any engagement to him, as in your wisdomes 
shall seem most expedient; and your petitioner shall humbly 
pray. Mary Bacheler.' 

No record appears that the Court took any order on this peti- 
tion ; nor are we informed whether the lady succeeded to ' dis- 
pose of herselfe,' in the manner which she seems to have had 
so much at heart. It is to be hoped, however, that her request 
was granted, for the woman had undoubtedly suffered enough 
for her lapses, as the reader will probably agree, when he shall 
have read the sentence, which may serve to clear up at least 
one of the mysteries in this strangest of all the lives of our early 
ministers. In the I'ecords of York, on the fifteenth of October, 
1651, is the following entry: 'We do present George Rogers 
and Mary Batcheller, the wife of Mr. Stephen Batcheller, min- 
ister, for adultery. It is ordered that Mrs. Batcheller, for her 
adultery, shall receive 40 stripes save one, at the first town 
meeting held at Kittery, 6 weeks after her delivery, and be 
branded with the letter A.' In the horrible barbarity of this sen- 
tence we blush for the severity of the punishment, rather than 
for the crime. The husband and his erring wife have long since 
gone to their last account, and their errors and follies must be 
left to the adjustment of that tribunal which we hope is more 
merciful than the decisions of men. Mr Bachiler had undoubt- 
edly many virtues, or he would not have had many friends, and 
they would not have continued with him through all the changes 
of his varied life. Mr. Prince says that he was ' a man of fame 
in his day, a gentleman of learning and ingenuity, and wrote a 
fine and curious hand.' It was on his separation from the church 
at Lynn, with his subsequent misfortunes, that Mr. Edward 
Johnson wrote the following lines: 

Through ocean large Christ broug-ht tliee for to feed 
His wandering- flock, with 's word thou oft liast taught ; 

Then teach thyself, with others thou hast need, 
Thj^ flowing fame unto low ebb i» brought. 

Faith and obedience Christ full near hath joined ; 

Then trust in Christ and thou again mayst be 
Brought on thy race, though now far cast behind ; 

Run to the end and crowned thou shall be.' 

Mr. Bachelor died at Hackney, near London, in 1660, in the 
one hundredth year of his age. He had four sons and three 



1G36.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 97 

daughters. Theodate married Christopher Hussey, and removed 
to Hampton. Deborah married John Wing of Lynn, and removed 
to Sandwich. The third daughter married a Sanborn ; Francis 
and Stephen remained in London; Henry went to Reading; 
Nathaniel removed to Hampton, where in 1656, he married Debo- 
rah Smith, by whom he had nine children. After her death, he 
called on widow Mary Wyman of Woburn, and offered himself 
She discouraged his hopes because he had so large a family. 
He replied, ' It was the first time he had ever known a woman 
to object to a man because he got children ; he was going to 
Boston on business, and when he returned he would call for her 
answer.' He called as he had promised, she became his wife, 
and presented him with eight more children. Among the de- 
scendants from the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, may be mentioned 
the Hon. Daniel Webster. 

The dissensions in the churches at Salem and Lynn, and the 
scarcity of provisions, occasioned a fast to be proclaimed, which 
was observed on the twenty-first of February. 

On the third of March, the Court enacted, that each town 
should have power to regulate its own affairs ; to set fines on 
offenders, not exceeding twenty shillings ; and to choose a num- 
ber of ' prudential men,' not exceeding seven, to order their mu- 
nicipal concerns. This was the legal origin of those officers since 
called ' Selectmen ; ' though some of the towns had similar 
officers before. They were at first chosen for only three months ; 
and the town of Lynn continued to choose seven, until the year 
1155, when the number was reduced to three. They also had a 
number of officers, called tythingmen, because each one Avas set 
over ten families, to observe their conduct, and to report any 
violation of the public order. 

Mr. Timothy Tomlins was licensed as a Ptetailer, ' to draw wine 
for the town of Saugus.' 

Mr. John Hurafrey and Captain Nathaniel Turner were ap- 
pointed by the Court to lay out the bounds of Ipswich. 

Mr. Humfrey Imilt a windmill, on the eastern mound of Saga- 
more Hill, which was thence called Windmill Hill. 

A Court was established at Salem, to be held quarterly, for 
the benefit of that and the adjacent towns. The judges con- 
sisted of a magistrate, and several freemen, selected from each 
town, by the General Court. This year there were four, of whom 
Captain Nathaniel Turner was one. The first session com- 
menced on the twenty-seventh of June. A fine of ten shillings 
was imposed on Thomas Stanley, the constable of Lynn, for not 
appearing ; and a record, made in September, says, ' Now it is 
in corn, in William Woods' hands.' 

The Rev. Samuel Whiting arrived from Englandin June ; and 
was installed pastor of the church at Lynn, on Tuesday, the 8th 
13 



98 HISTOKYOFLYNN. [1636. 

of November. The Council remained two days, and found much 
difficulty in organizing a church ; which was composed of only 
six members, beside the minister. The following is a copy of 
the original church covenant, transcribed by me from the leaf of 
a pocket Bible, belonging to one of the ministers. 

' The Covenant of the First Church of Christ in Lynn. 

' We do give up ourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, as to the only true and living God ; avouching God the 
Father to be our father ; embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as our 
only Saviour, in all his offices, prophetical, sacredotal, and regal ; 
depending on the blessed Spirit of Grace to be our Sanctifier, 
Teacher, Guide, and Comforter, and to make effectual applica- 
tion of the redemption purchased by Christ unto us ; promising 
by the assistance, and through the sanctifying inffiiences of that 
Blessed Spirit, to cleave unto this one God and Mediator, as his 
covenant people. We believe the revelation God hath made of 
himself, and our duty, in his word, to be true ; and through grace 
strengthening, we promise to comply with the whole will of God, 
so far as he shall discover it to us. We promise, by the assist- 
ance of Divine Grace, to walk before God in our houses, in sin- 
cerity of heart ; that we will uphold the worship of God there- 
in ; endeavoring to bring up all under our inspection, in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. We shall endeavour the 
mortification of our own sins, and we covenant to reprove sin in 
others, as far as the rule requires ; promising in brotherly love 
to watch over one another, and to submit ourselves to the gov- 
ernment of Christ in this church, and to attend the orders there- 
of. We do likewise solemnly agree by all means to study and 
endeavour the peace of this church, and the maintenance of the 
purity of the worship of God therein ; that so the blessing of 
God may be vouchsafed to this his heritage. We do also give 
up ourselves to one another in the Lord, solemnly binding our- 
selves to walk together in the ways of his worship, and to cleave 
to his ordinances, according to the rules of his word. This you 
heartily comply with and consent to. You are now members in 
full communion with this church, purchased by the blood of 
Christ ; and you do now seriously, solemnly, deliberately, and 
forever ; in the presence of God, by whom you expect shortly to 
be judged, and by whom you hope to be acquitted; in the pres- 
ence of an innumerable company of elect angels, and in the 
presence of this assembly ; give up yourselves to God, the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; avouching the Lord Jehovah to 
be your God. You give up yourselves unto this church ; submit- 
ting to the holy rule and ordinance of it ; putting yourselves under 
the care and inspection of it ; promising to embrace counsel and 
reproofs with humbleness and thankfulness ; and duly to attend 
the administration of the ordinances of the Gospel in this church ; 



1636.1 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



99 



so long as your opportunities thereby to be edified in your holy 
faith shall be continued. We, then, the church of the Lord, do 
receive you into our sacred fellowship, as those whom we trust 
Christ hath received ; and we promise to admit you to all the 
ordinances of the Gospel in fellowship with us ; to watch over 
you with a spirit of love and meekness, not for your halting but 
helping ; to treat you with all that affection which your sacred 
relation to us now calleth for ; and to continue our ardent praj^ers 
for you, to the Father of Light, that you may have grace to keep 
this solemn covenant, you have now, before God, angels, and 
men, entered into ; that so the sure mercies of the everlasting 
covenant may be your portion forever. Amen.' 

To those persons who did not wholly unite with this church, 
but only assented to the covenant, for the privilege of having 
their cliildren baptized, the following was read, immediately 
after the words ' consent to.' 

' You do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assem- 
bly, avouch this one God in 3 persons to be your God; engaging 
to be his, only, constantly, and everlastingly. You do further 
promise to labour in preparing for the table of the Lord, that in 
due time you may make your approaches to God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Lord and Giver of eternal life, in all his ordi- 
nances and appointments ; that at last you may give up your 
account with joy, unto Christ, the Judge of all' 




CHAPTER V. 

War with the Pequod Indians — Sandwich settled — Rev. Thomas Cobbet in- 
stalled — Lynn named — Lands divided — Lord Brook's Death — Lynntield, 
Hampton, Reading, Barnstable, Yarmouth, and Southampton settled — Lineage 
of Lewis — Ladies' Dresses regulated — • New Inhabitants — Lady Moodey — 
Life of Hon. John Humfrey — 1636 to 1642. 

They spread broad maps of cities, where 
Once waved the forest trees. 

MOF.RIS. 




OME of the Pequod Indians, 
having committed several mur- 
ders upon the whites, induced 
the people of Massachusetts to 
commence a war upon them. 
On the sixteenth of June, 163G, Governor Henry- 
Vane ordered Lieut. Edward Howe to have his 
men in readiness ; and in August, four companies 
of volunteers were called out, one of which was 
commanded by Capt. Nathaniel Turner, of Lynn. They were 
directed to demand the murderers, with a thousand fathom of 
wampum, and some of the Indian children as hostages. At 
Block Island, they destroyed seven canoes, sixty wigwams, and 
many acres of corn, and killed one Indian. At New London, 
they burnt the canoes and wigwams, killed thirteen Indians, and 
returned on the fourteenth of September. 

1637. On the eighteenth of April, 175 men were raised for 
a second expedition against the Pequods. Boston furnished 26, 
Lynn 21, (sixteen at fu-st and five afterward,) Cambridge 19, 
Salem 18, Ipswich 17, Watertown 14, Dorchester 13, Charles- 
town 12, Roxbury 10, Newbury 8, Hingham 6, Weymouth o, 
Marblehead 3, and Medford 3. The Connecticut troops attacked 
the Pequods on the twenty-sixth of May, a little before day- 
break. Sassacus, the Pequod Sachem, had built a rude fort, 
surrounded by a palisade of trees. The soldiers came to the 
fort in silence, discharged their muskets on the slumbering na- 
tives, and then set fire to the camp. Stoughton, who commanded 
the expedition, says, of 'six or seven hundred Indians,' many of 



1637.] HISTOKY OF LYNN. 101 

whom were women, and old men, and helpless children, only 
'about seven escaped.' The soldiers from Lynn arrived three 
days after the massacre, and returned on the twenty-sixth of 
August. Sassacus, after this desolation of his tribe, fled to the 
Mohawks ; where he was soon afterwards murdered, as it was 
supposed, by an Indian of the Narragansett tribe, who were his 
enemies. Thus perished Sassacus, the last and bravest of the 
Pequods ; a chief, who in the annals of Greece would have re- 
ceived the fame of a hero, — in the war of American freedom, 
the praise of a patriot. 

On the twenty-third of June, Governor Winthrop visited Lynn, 
and was escorted by the inhabitants to Salem. He returned on 
the twenty-eighth; travelling in the night, in consequence of the 
heat, which was so excessive that many persons died. Graham 
says, there were, at this time, but thirty-seven ploughs in the 
colony, most of which were at Lynn. 

The members of the Quarterly Court this year, were John 
Humfrey and Edward Howe. In a tax of £400, the proportion 
of Lynn was £28 16. The General Court ordered that no per- 
son should make any cakes or buns, ' except for burials, mar- 
riages, and such like special occasions.' 

This year a large number of people removed from Lynn, and 
commenced a new settlement at Sandwich. The grant of the 
town was made, on the third of April, by the Colony of Plymouth. 
' It is ordered, that these ten men of Saugus, namely, Edmund 
Freeman, Henry Feake, Thomas Dexter, Edward Dillingham, 
"William Wood, John Carman, Richard Chadwell, William Almy, 
Thomas Tupper, and George Knott, shall have liberty to view 
a place to sit down on, and have land suthcient for three score 
families, upon the conditions propounded to them by the Gov- 
ernor and Mr. Winslow.' Thomas Dexter did not remove, but 
the rest of the above named went, with forty-six other men 
from Lynn. 

The Rev. Thomas Cobbet arrived from England, on the 
twenty-sixth of June, and was soon after installed in the min- 
istry, as a colleague with Mr. Whiting. The two ministers 
continued together eighteen years. Mr. Whiting was styled 
Pastor, and ]NIr. Cobbet, Teacher. 

This year the name of the town was changed from Saugus 
to Lyn.\. The record of the General Court, on the fifteenth of 
November, consists of only four words, ' Saugust is called Lin! 
This relates merely to the change of the name, the town having 
been incorporated in 1030. The name was given in compliment 
to Mr. Whiting, who came from Old Lynn, in Norfolk County, 
England. 

Old Lynn, in England, was called Lynn Regis, or King's 
Lynn. It was patronized by King John, who, in 1215, received 



lOS HISTORT OF LYNN. [1638. 

great service from that town in his war against France. ' He 
granted them a mayor, and gave them liis OAvn sword to be 
carried before him, with a silver gilt cup, wliich they have to 
this day.' * The ancient Britons gave it the name of Lliyn, a 
word signifying a lake or sheet of water. Campden says, it was 
* so named from its spreading waters.' Speed calls the waters 
before the old town, ' The Washes of Linne.'t The Romans, on 
their conquest, called it Durohrivein,X a word signifying a place 
of water. All who have seen our Lynn, will admit how appro- 
priate is its name to its situation. 

An old British legend of 1360, asserts that the ' Friar or Linn,' 
by magic art, went to the North Pole, and came to America. 
There is a very beautiful ballad, of an early date, entitled ' The 
Heire of Linne.' I have only room for two stanzas. 

The bonnie heire, the weel faured heire, 

And the weary heire of Linne, 
Yonder he stands at his father's gate, 

And naebody bids him come in. 



Then he did spy a little wee lock 

And the key gied linking in, 
And he gat goud and money therein. 

To pay the lands o' Linne. 

A town meeting was held this year, in which Daniel Howe, 
Richard Walker, and Henry Collins were chosen a committee 
to divide the lands ; or, as it was expressed in the record, ' To 
lay out ffarmes.' The land was laid out in those parts of the 
town best adapted to cultivation ; and the woodlands were re- 
served as common property, and called the ' town common,' not 
being divided until sixty-nine years after. 

1638. The committee appointed by the town to divide the 
lands, completed their task, and a book was provided, in which 
the names of the proprietors, with the number of acres allotted 
to each, were recorded. That book is lost ; but a copy of the 
first three pages has been preserved in the files of the Quarterly 
Court, at Salem, from which the following is transcribed. I 
have taken the justifiable liberty, in this instance, to spell the 
words correctly, and to supply a few omissions, which are in- 
cluded in brackets. The word 'ten,' which is added to many 
of the allotments, implies that a separate lot of ten acres was 
granted. 



* Cambden's Britannia. f Speed's Chronicles of England. 

X Antoninus' Itinerary. 



1638.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 103 



' These lands following were given to the inhabitants of tlie 
town of Lynn, Anno Domini 1638. 

To the Right Honorable the Lord Brook, 800 acres, as it is 
estimated. 

To ]Mi-. Thomas Willis, upland and meadow, 500 acres, as it 
is estimated. 

Mr. Edward Holyoke, upland and meadow, 500 acres, as it is 
estimated. 

Henry Collins, upland and meadow, 80 acres, and ten. 

Mr [Joseph] Floyd, upland and meadow, 60 acres, and ten. 

Edmund and Francis Ingalls, upland and meadow, 120 acres. 

Widow Bancroft, 100 acres. 

AVidow Hammond, 60 acres. 

George Burrill, 200 acres. 

John Wood, 100 acres. 

Thomas Talmage, 200. 

Nicholas Brown, 200. 

William Cowdrey, 60. 

Thomas Laighton, 60. 

John Cooper, 200. 

Allin Breed, 200. 

John Pool, 200. 

Edward Howe, 200, and ten. 

Thomas Sayre, 60. 

Job Sayre, 60. 

Thomas Chadwell, 60. 

William Walton, 60. 

Christopher Foster, 60. 

WilHam Ballard, 60. 

Josias Stanbury, 100. 

Edmund Farrington, 200. 

Nicholas Potter, 00. 

William Knight, 60. 

Edward Tomlins, 200, and twenty. 

['Mr.' ] South, 100. 

Boniface Burton, 60. 

John Smith, 60. 

Mr. Edward Howell, 500.' 

PAGE II. 

' To Nicholas Batter, 60. 

Mr. [Ptichard] Sadler, 200, and the rock by his house. 

Joseph Armitage, 60. 



104 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1638. 

Godfrey Armitage, 60. 

To Matthew West, upland and meadow, 30, and ten. 

George Farr, 30, and ten. 

James Boutwell, 60 acres. 

Zachary Fitch, 30, and ten. 

Jarrett Spenser, 30 acres. 

Jenkin Davis, 30, and ten. 

Georee Taylor, 30, and ten. 

[Wilham] Thorn, 30, and ten. 

Thomas Townsend, 60. 

Thomas Parker, 30, and ten. 

Francis Lightfoot, 30, and ten. 

Richard Johnson, 30, and ten. 

Robert Parsons, 30, and ten. 

Edward Burcham, 30, and ten. 

Anthony Newhall, 30. 

Thomas Newhall, 30. 

Thomas Marshall, 30, and ten. 

Michael Spenser, 30. 

Timothy Tomlins, 80. 

[William] Harcher, 20. 

Richard Roolton, 60. 

[Nathaniel] Handforth, 20. 

Thomas Hudson, 60. 

Thomas Halsye, 100. 

Samuel Bennett, 20. 

John Elderkin, 20. 

Abraham Belknap, 40. 

Robert Driver, 20. 

Joseph Rednap, 40. 

[John] Deacon, 20. 

Philip Kertlaud, senior, 10.' 



' To Philip Kertland, junior, 10. 
[Goodman] Crosse, 10. 
Hugh Burt, 60. 
[Goodman] Wathin, 10. 
Richard Brooks, 10. 
Francis Godson, 30. 

George Welbye, 

William Partridge, upland, 10 acres. 
Henry Gains, 40. 
Richard Wells, 10. 
[Joseph] Pell, 10. 
John White, 20. 



1638.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 1 05 

Edward Baker, 40. 

James Axey, 40. 

William Edmonds, 10. 

Edward Ire son, 10. 

Jeremy Howe, 20. 

"William George, 20. 

Nathaniel Whiteridge, 10. 

George Frail, 10. 

Edmund Bridges, 10. 

Richard Longley, 40. 

Thomas Talmage, junior, 20. 

Thomas Coldham, 60. 

Adam Hawkes, upland, 100. 

Thomas Dexter, 350. 

Daniel Howe, upland and meadow, 60. 

Richard Walker, upland and meadow, 200. 

Ephraim Howe, next to the land of his father, upland, 10. 

[Thomas] Ivory, 10. 

Timothy Cooper, 10. 

Samuel Hutchinson, 10, by estimation. 

Mr. Samuel Whiting, the pastor, 200. 

Mr. Thomas Cobbet, the teacher, 200.' 

' These three pages were taken out of the town book of the 
Records of Lynn, the 10th. 1 mo. Anno Domini 59, 60, [March 
10, 1660,] by me, 

Andrew Mansfield, Town Recorder.' 

The 'Lord Brook' to whom the grant of 800 acres was made, 
'was one of those patriots,' says Ricraft, who so ardently longed 
for liberty, that he determined to seek it in America.' He was 
shot with a musket-ball, through the visor of his helmet, in the 
civil war of 1642, while storming the Cathedral of Litchfield. 
Sir Walter Scott alludes to this sacrilege in Marmion. 

When fanatic Brook 

The fair cathedral stormed and took ; 
But thanks to heaven and g:ood St. Chad, 
A guerdon meet the spoiler had. 

' He was killed by a shot fired from St. Chad's Cathedral, on 
St. Chad's day, and received his death wound in that very eye 
with which he had said he hoped to see the ruin of all the cathe- 
drals in England.' 

Though the 86S0 acres of land thus laid out among 100 fam- 
ilies, comprised the best portion of Lynn and Saugus, the people 
thought they had not sufficient room, and petitioned the court 
for more. On the thirteenth of March, ' Lynn was granted 6 
miles into the country ; and Mr. Hawthorne and Leift Daven- 
14 



106 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1638. 

port to view and inform how the land beyond lyeth, whether it 
be fit for another plantation or no.' The land laid out by this 
order was for many years called Lynn End, and now constitutes 
the town of Lynnfield. The court afterwards very prudently 
ordered, that the Governor and Assistants should ' take care that 
the Indians have satisfaction for their right at Lynn.' 

The preceding winter was extremely severe, the snow con- 
tinued from November sixteenth to the fourth of April, and the 
spring was so cold that the farmers were compelled to plant their 
corn ' two or three times.' 

On the first of June, between the hours of three and four in 
the afternoon, there was an earthquake. It shook the whole 
country very heavily, making a noise like the rattling of coaches, 
and continued about four minutes. The earthquake was very 
great ; people found it difficult to stand, and furniture and chim- 
neys were thrown down. Other smaller shocks occurred for 
several weeks after. 

On the same day, the ' Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany' was formed, at Boston. Daniel Howe, of Lynn, was 
chosen Lieutenant. Other members of this company from Lynn 
have been — in 1638, Nathaniel Turner, Edward Tomlins, Rich- 
ard Walker; in 1639, Samuel Bennett; in 1640, John Humfrey, 
Thomas Marshall; in 1641, John Humfrey, jun., Robert Bridges, 
Adam Otley ; in 1642, John Wood; in 1643, Benjamin Smith; 
in 1648, John Cole; in 1694, Thomas Baker; in 1717, Benjamin 
Gray; in 1822, Daniel N. Breed, George Johnson, Ebenezer 
Neal. 

A settlement was this year begun at Hampton, in New 
Hampshire, by Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Christopher Hussey, and 
fourteen others, most of whom had been inhabitants of Lynn. 

Many farmers pastured their cows in one drove, and watched 
them alternately. When it came to Mr. John Gillow's turn, an 
ill-minded man detained him in conversation, till the cows 
strayed into a field of corn, where two of them ate so much that 
they became sick, and one of them died. It happened that 
these two cows belonged to the man who had occasioned the 
mischief, who complained of Mr. Gillow before the Court of 
Assistants, at Boston, on the seventh of September. As it was 
proved, that the man had boasted of having designed that the 
cattle should stray, the case was decided in Mr. Gillow's favor. 

On the sixth of September, Mr. John Humfrey sold to Eman- 
uel Downing, of Salem, ' the 2 ponds and so much high ground 
about the ponds, as is needful to keep the Duck Coys, pri- 
vately set, from disturbnnce of plowmen, heardsmen, and others 
passing by that way, which he may enclose, so as he take not 
in above fifty acres of the upland round about the same.' These 
two ponds were probably Coy and Deep ponds, near Forest 



I 



1639.] Hiaxoay of lynn. 107 

River. Iii the Registry, at Salem, where the above is recorded, 
Mr. Humfrey is called 'of Salem,' but that is not a copy of the 
original grant. In the early time, the deeds were not recorded 
literally, but only a sketch of them was entered by the clerk. A 
common form of beginning deeds then was, ' To all Christian 
People.' One deed is recorded, which commences thus — 'To 
all Christian People, Fishermen, and Indians.' 

1639. Among those who promoted the settlement of New 
England, were several of the jfamily of Lewis. Some of them 
were in the country at a veiy early period, but the name first 
appears at Lynn this year. I have copious memoirs of this 
family, from which I shall make a few brief extracts, that I may 
not be like the poet described by Leyden, who 

Saved other names, and left his own unsung.* 

When the whole country was a wilderness, Thomas Lewis 
came from Wales to establish a plantation. He made his first 
visit to Saco, then called by the Lidians Saga-dahock, in 1628; 
and on the twelfth of February, 1629, received the following 
grant, a copy of which was preserved in the archives of Massa- 
chusetts ; and which I am more desirous to record here, because 
Mr. Folsom, the excellent historian of Saco, appears not to have 
known of its existence. 

' To all Christian People, to whom this present writing indented 
shall come, The Council for the Affairs in Neio England . . . in 
consideration tJiat Thomas Lewis, Gentleman, hath already been 
at the charge to transport himself and others to take a view of New 
England . . . for the bettering of his experience in the advancing 
of a Playitation, and doth now wholly intend, by God's assistayice, 
to plant there, both for the good of his Majesty s realms and for the 
propagation of the Christian Religion among those Infidels ; and 
in consideration that the said Thomas Letcis, together with Captain 
Richard Bonython, and their associates, have undertaken, at their 
own proper costs and charges, to transport Fifty Persons thither, 
within seven years . . . have given all that part of the Maine Land, 
commonly called and known by the name of Sagadahock . . . 
containing in breadth, from northeast to southwest, along by the 
Sea, Four Miles in a straight li?ie, accounting seventeen hundred 
and three score yards, according to the standard of England, to 
every mile, and Eight English Miles upon the Maine Land, upon 
the north side of the River Sagadahock . . . He and tJiey yielding 
and paying unto our Sovereign Lord, the King, one ffth part of 
gold and silver, one other ffth part to the Council aforesaid.' 

* Quod aliena teslimoniiim redderem, in eo iion fraudabo avum meum. Paterculus. 
I shall not deprive my ovi^n grandfather of the praise I would give to a stranger. 



108 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1639. 

This deed was signed by Edward Gorges ; and the Rev. Wil- 
liam Blackstone, of Boston, was named attorney for the Council. 
This grant included 32 square miles, and comprised the whole 
of the town of Saco. Thomas Lewis died in 1640. Judith, his 
eldest daughter and heiress, married James Gibbins. 

William Lewis was descended from a very respectable 
family in Wales. His descendants enjoy great satisfaction in 
being able to trace their descent from a very high antiquity. 
He came to Boston in 1636. In the year 1640, he and his wife 
Amy are recorded by Rev. John Eliot, of Roxbury, as attendants 
at his church. In 1653, he became one of the proprietors of the 
pleasant inland town of Lancaster, on the Nashaway river, and 
was the third person in regard to wealth among the first settlers 
of that town. He died December 1, 1671. He had nine chil- 
dren; 1. John, born Nov. 1, 1635. 2. Christopher, born Dec. 2, 
1636. 3. Lydia, born Dec. 25, 1639. 4. Josiah, born July 28, 
1641. 5. Isaac, born April 14, 1644. 6. Mary, baptized Aug. 
2, 1646. 7. Hannah, baptized March 18, 1648. 8. Mordecai, 
born June 1, 1650. His son John returned to Boston, and built 
a house on land which his father had purchased of Governor 
Richard Bellingham. 

WILLLAM LEWIS, or Wales, 
Amy, his wife. 

^ \ 

' ~ - I 

John. Chnstopher. Lydia. Josiah. Isaac, of Boston, Mary. Hannah. Mordecai. 
m. Alary Davis. 



Mary. Isaac, of Boston, Joseph. John. Abraham, 
m. Hannah Hallett. 



Isaac. John. Hannah. William. Abijah. Mary. Nathan, of Boston, Joseph. 

m. Mary Newhall. 

I/Ois. Nathan. John. Thomas. David. Henry. Benjamin. Zachariah, of Lynn, Stephen. William. 

m. Mary Hudson. 



I 
Alonzo Lewis, of Lynn, Irene. Mary. William, 
m. Frances Maria Swan. 

\ 

^ _ _ __^ 

Alonzo. Frances Maria. Aurelius. Llewellyn. Arthur. Lynnworth. 

Edmund Lewis was one of the early proprietors of Water- 
town, and was admitted a freeman May 25, 1636. On the four- 
teenth of October, 1638, he was one of the committee appointed 
to lay out the lands in that town. He came to Lynn in 1639, 
and was the first settler in Lewis street. He died in January, 
1651. The name of his wife was Mary, and his children were 
John, Thomas, James, and Nathaniel. His descendants remain. 
The name of Lewis is the fifth in Lynn, in regard to numbers. 



1639.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 109 

Georj^e LeAvis came from East Greenwich, in the county of 
Kent, England. He was at Plymouth, in 1633. He removed 
to Scituate, and afterward to Barnstable. He married Sarah 
Jenkins, in England, and had nine children, of whom Joseph 
and John were killed by the Indians, in the war of 1675-6. 
Dr. Winslow Lewis, of I3oston, is descended from this family. 

On the fourteenth of January there was an earthquake. 

Another grant of land was made to the town, by the General 
Court, on the seventh of September. ' The petition of the 
Inhabitants of Lynn, for a place for an inland plantation, at the 
head of their bounds is granted them, 4 miles square, as the 
place will afToard ; upon condition that the petitioners shall, 
within two years, make some good proceeding in planting, so as 
it may be a village, fit to contain a convenient number of inhabi- 
tants, which may in dewe time have a church there ; and so as 
such as shall remove to inhabit there, shall not withall keepe 
their accommodations in Linn above 2 years after their removal 
to the said village, upon pain to forfeit their interest in one of 
them at their election; except this court shall see fit cause to 
dispense further with them.' The settlement thus begun was 
called Lynn Village, and included Reading, South Reading, and 
North Reading. 

Two other settlements were this year begun by people who 
removed from Lynn ; one at Barnstable, and the other at Yar- 
mouth. 

The General Court allowed the town fifty pounds to build a 
bridge over Saugus River, and fifty shillings annually to keep it 
in repair. They forbade the people to spread bass or codfish 
upon their lands, as they had been accustomed to do, for the 
enrichment of the soil. A tax of one thousand pounds was 
laid, of which the proportion of Lynn was £7919 9. On the 
third of December, the court laid a fine of ten pounds upon the 
town, for not maintaining a watch against the Indians. 

The following order passed by the General Court for the reg- 
ulation of women's dresses, will be interesting to my lady 
readers. 'No garment shall be made with short sleeves; and 
such as have garments already made with short sleeves, shall 
not wear the same, unless they cover the arm to the wrist ; and 
hereafter no person whatever shall make any garment for women 
with sleeves more than half an ell wide;' that is, twenty-two 
and a half inches. Our early legislators were anxious to keep 
the minds, as well as the persons, of their women 'in good 
shape.' It seems that in 1G37, the ladies of Boston were accus- 
tomed to meet for social improvement ; on which Governor Win- 
throp remarks, ' That though women might meet, some few 
together, to pray and edify one another, yet such a set assembly, 
where sixty or more did meet every week, and one woman in a 
prophetical way, by resolving questions of doctrine, and expound- 



110 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1640. 

ing scripture, took upon her the whole exercise, was agreed to be 
disorderly, and without rule.' What would they have thought 
in these later times, when women write books, and supply our 
pulpits. It might have been well for human welfare, if our 
legislators had always been as harmlessly employed, as when 
they were cutting out dresses for the ladies. 

1640. Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this 
time. The great tide of immigration ceased in 1641, and after 
that time not many came over. 

Hugh Alley, farmer, lived on the corner of Market and 
Front streets. He had a son Hugh, who married Rebecca 
Hood, December 9, 1681, and had seven children. Solomon, 
born October 11, 1682; Jacob, born January 28, 1683; Eleazer, 
born November 1, 1686 ; Hannah, born August 16, 1689 ; Richard, 
born July 31, 1691; Joseph, born June 22, 1693; Benjamin, 
born February 24, 1 695. 

John Alley, farmer, lived in Market street, and had five chil- 
dren. John, born in January, 1675; Hannah, born January 22, 
1679; Rebecca, born May 28, 1683; Hugh, born February 15, 
1685; William, born July 14, 1683. The descendants of Hugh 
and John Alley are very numerous. 

Samuel Aborne, a farmer, resided at fijst on the Common, and 
afterward removed to Lynnfield, where his descendants remain. 

Robert Bridges was admitted a freeman, June 2, 1641. In 
the same year he was a member of the Ancient Artillery Com- 
pany and a captain of the militia. He had a large share in the 
Iron Works. In 1644, he was chosen representative, and 
appointed a member of the Quarterly Court, at Salem. In 1646, 
he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the next 
year became an Assistant, in which office he continued until his 
death, in 1656. 

Lieut. Thomas Bancroft, son of widow Bancroft, had two 
children; Ebenezer, born April 26, 1667; Mary, born May 16, 
1670. He died March 12, 1705. His wife Elizabeth died May 
1, 1711. His descendants remain. 

William Bassett, farmer, died March 31, 1703. He had two 
sons; William, who married Sarah Hood, October 25, 1675; 
and Elisha, who married Elizabeth . His descendants remain, 

William Clark, farmer, died March 5, 16S3. His children 
were Hannah, John, Lydia, Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth. His 
descendants remain. 

John Diven, died October 4, 16S4. He had a son John. 

Thomas Farrar, farmer, lived in Nahant street, and died Feb- 
ruary 23, 1694. His wife Elizabeth died January 8, 1680. He 
had one son, Thomas, who married Abigail Collins, March 3, 1681 ; 
and four daughters ; Hannah, Sarah, Susannah, and Elizabeth. 

John Fuller came from England, with his brother Samuel, in 



1640.] HISTORY OF LYNN. Ill 

1630, and when they arrived in Boston, 'only seven huts were 
erected.' After residing there several years, Samuel went to 
Scituate, and John, in 1G44, came to Lynn, and settled at the 
western end of VVaterhill street. He was chosen Representa- 
tive in 1655, and Clerk of the Writs in 1662. He died June 29, 
1666. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and he had five 
children — Lieut. John Fuller, who married Elizabeth Farring- 
ton, and died April 21, 1695 — William, Susannah, Elizabeth, 
and James. Several of his descendants have borne respectable 
offices, and some of them remain. 

Zaccheus Gould, owned at one time, the Mills on Sangus 
River. He had a son Daniel. 

John Gillow died in 1673. The name of his wife was Rose. 
He had two sons, Benjamin and Thomas. 

Nathaniel Hathorne had two children ; Ebenezer, who married 
Esther Witt, December 26, 1683, and Nathaniel. 

Ptichard Haven, farmer, lived near the Flax Pond. His wife 
Susannah died February 7, 1682. His children were Hannah, 
born 1645, Mary, Joseph, Richard, Susannah, Sarah, John, 
Martha, Samuel, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Moses. Several of 
his sons were among the first settlers of Framingham. 

Joseph Holloway died November 29, 1693. He had a son 

Joseph, who married Mary , and had four children. Mary, 

born April 16, 1675; Samuel, born November 2, 1677 ; Edward, 
born February 1, 1683. John, born October 11, 1686. His 
de.'jcendants remain, and spell their name Hallowell. 

Robert Howard had a son Edward, who married Martha , 

and had two children; Amos, born April 16, 1696; Jane, born 
March 4, 1699. His descendants remain. 

Richard Hood, came from Lynn in England. He lived in 
Nahant street, and died September 12, 1695. He had three 
sons; Richard, born 1670; Joseph, born July 8, 1674 ; Benjamin, 
born January 3, 1677. His descendants remain, and are among 
the principal inhabitants of Nahant. In those early days, a 
young man, who was inclined to indulge in the laudable custom 
of courting, went to visit a young lady of this family named 
Agnes. As he was returning late one evening, he was over- 
heard saying to himself — ' Well, so far proceeded towards 
courting Agnes.' This phrase became common, and has been 
introduced into an English comedy. 

Edward Ireson died December 4, 1675. His son Benjamin 
married Mary Leach, August 1, 1680, and had a son Edward, 
born April 9, 1661. 

Thomas Keyser was mate of a vessel which sailed from Bos- 
ton. Governor Winthrop tells a story of one of his men, who 
was whipped for stealing a gold ring, and some other articles 
from him at Portsmouth. 

Andrew Mansfield came from Exeter, in England, to Boston, 



1 12 HISTORY OF LYNN. [ 1640. 

in 1636. He came to Lynn in 1640. He was a farmer, and 
lived in Boston street. Tlie neighborhood in which he hvedwas 
called Mansfield's End. He was town clerk in 1660, and died 
in 1692, aged 94 years. He had a son Andrew, who was P\.ep- 
resentative in 16b0, and who married Elizabeth Conant, January 
10, 1681. His descendants remain. 

John Mansfield, a tailor, freeman in 1643, died in 1671, aged 
62 years. 

Lady Deborah Moodey came to Lynn, in 1640. Five years 
before, she went from one of the remote counties in England, to 
London, where she remained in opposition to a statute, which 
enjoined that no persons should reside beyond a limited time, 
from their own homes. On the twenty-first of April, the court 
of the star-chamber ordered, that ' Dame Deborah Mowdie, and 
the others, should return to their hereditaments in forty days, in 
the good example necessary to the poorer class. On the fifth 
of April, 1640, soon after her arrival at Lynn, she united with 
the church at Salem. On the thirteenth of May, the General 
Court granted her 400 acres of land. In 1641, she purchased 
Mr. John Humfrey's farm, ' called Swampscot,' for which she 
paid £1,100. Lechford, in 1641, says, 'Lady Moody lives at 
Lynn, but is of Salem church. She is, good lady, almost un- 
done, by buying Master Humphries' farm, Swampscot.' Some- 
time afterward she became imbued with the erroneous idea, that 
the baptism of infants was a sinful ordinance, for which, and 
other opinions, she was excommunicated. In 1643, she removed 
to Long Island. Governor Winthrop says, ' the Lady Moodye, 
a wise, and anciently religious woman, being taken with the 
error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt with by many of 
the elders, and others, and admonished by the church of Salem, 
whereof she was a member ; but persisting still, and to avoid 
further trouble, she removed to the Dutch, against the advice of 
all her friends.' After her arrival at Long Island, she experi- 
enced much trouble from the Indians, her house being assaulted 
by them many times. Her wealth enabled her to render as- 
sistance to Governor Stuyvesant, of New York, in some difiicul- 
ties which he encountered in 1654 ; and so great was her influ- 
ence with him, that he conceded the nomination of the magis- 
trates that year to her. She was of a noble family, and had a 
son. Sir Henry Moody. With the exception of her troubling the 
church with her religious opinions, she appears to have been a 
lady of great worth. 

Robert Rand was a farmer at Woodend. He died November 
8, 1694. His wife, Elizabeth, died August 29, 1693. His chil- 
dren were Robert, Zachary, Elizabeth, and Mary, and his de- 
scendants remain. 

Henry Rhodes was a farmer, and lived on the western side of 
Saugus River. He was born in 1608, and had two sons. Jona- 



1 640. ] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 1 13 

than died April 7, 1677. Henry had a son Henry. Their de- 
scendants remain. 

John Tarbox had two sons ; John ; and Samuel, who married 
Rebecca Annitage, November 14, 1665, and had eighteen chil- 
dren. Samuel died September 12, 1715, aged 93 years. His 
descendants remain. 

Captain Shubael Walker was buried January 24, 1689. He 
lived at the Swampscot Farms. 

John Witt died in December, 1675. His children were Ann, 
Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Martha, John who mairied Ehzabeth 
Baker, January 14, 167G, and Thomas who married Bethia Pot- 
ter, February 26, 1675. His descendants remain. 

Thomas Welman died in 1G72. His children are Abigail, 
Isaac, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary. 

Other inhabitants were, Andrew Allen, Theophilus Bayley, 
died 1694, John Cole, Hugh Churchman, died 1644, Wentworth 
Daniels, Heniy Fitch, Daniel Fairfield, John Farrington, Abra- 
ham Ottley, Adam Ottley, Thomas Gaines, Tobias Haskell, 
James Hubbard, William Hubbard, Joseph Howe, William 
Knight, Michael Larabard, Robert Mansfield, Thomas Mans- 
field, Michael Milner, went to Long Island in 1640, Richard 
Mower, Thomas Putnam, Richard Pray, Quentin Pray, Thomas 
Purchis, Edward Paine, Hugh Stacey, John Stacey, George 
Taylor, AVilliara Taylor, John Tilton, William Tilton, Daniel 
Trumbull, Nathaniel Tyler, William Wells, Jonathan Witt. 

In the short space of ten years from its settlement, we have 
seen six other towns deriving their origin from Lynn ; yet the 
place continued to abound with inhabitants, and this year beheld 
the commencement of the seventh. About 'forty' families, 
' finding themselves straitened,' left the town with the design 
of settling a new plantation. They invited Mr. Abraham Pierson, 
of Boston, to become their minister, who with seven of the emi- 
grants entered into a church covenant before they left Lynn. 
They sailed in a vessel commanded by Captain Daniel Howe, 
to Scout's Bay, in the western part of Long Island, where they 
purchased land of Mr. James Forrett, agent of Lord Stirling, and 
agreed with the Indians for their right. On receiving informa- 
tion of this, the Dutch laid claim to that part of the island, on 
account of a previous purchase of the Indians, and sent men to 
take possession, who set up the arms of the Prince of Orange on 
a tree. The Lynn people, disregarding the claims of the Dutch, 
cut down the trees and began to build. Captain Howe likewise 
took down the Prince's arms, and instead thereof an Indian drew 
a very 'unhandsome face.' This conduct highly incensed the 
Dutch governor, William Kieft, whom Mr. Irving, in one of his 
humorous works, has characterized by the appellation of ' Wil- 
liam the Testv,' but whom Mr. Hubbard denominates ' a discreet 
15 



114 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1640. 

man,' who, on the thirteenth of May, sent Cornelius Van Ten 
Hoven the secretary, the undersherifF, a sergeant, and twenty- 
five soldiers, to break up the settlement. They found eiglat 
men, with a woman and an infant, who had erected one cottage, 
and were engaged in building another. They took six of the 
men, whose names were John Farrington, William Harcher, 
Philip Kertland, Nathaniel Kertland, Job Sayre, and George 
Wells, and brought them before the governor. These he exam- 
ined on oath, and then put them in prison, where they remained 
while he wrote a Latin letter to the governor of Massachusetts. 
To this Mr. Winthrop replied, in the same language, that he 
would neither maintain the Lynn people in an unjust action, nor 
suffer them to be injured. On the reception of this reply, the 
Dutch governor liberated the men, after they had signed an 
agreement to leave the place. They accordingly removed more 
than eighty miles, to the eastern part of the island, where they 
purchased land of the Indians, and planted a town, which, in re- 
membrance of the place from which they sailed in England, they 
called Southampton. 

Dr. P. S. Townsend, of New York, says, the people of Lynn 
also settled five other towns on Long Island ; Flushing, Graves- 
end, Jamaica, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay. 

At the court, on the thirteenth of May, William Hathorne, 
Samuel Symonds, and Timothy Tomlins, were appointed to lay 
out 'the nearest, cheapest, safest, and most convenient way* 
between Lynn and Winnisimet ferry. 

Lynn Village, now South Reading, was ordered to be exempt- 
ed from taxes, as soon as seven houses should be built, and 
seven families settled. 

William Hathorne and Timothy Tomlins, having been ap- 
pointed to lay out the bounds of the town of Lynn, made report, 
on the fourth of June, that they had fixed the bounds at Charles- 
town line, Reading Pond, Ipswich River, and Salem. 

The Court ordered- that grain should be received as a lawful 
payment for debts ; Indian corn at 5s., rye at 6s. 8d., and wheat 
at 7s. a bushel. The price of a cow was £5. 

Mr. Richard Sadler was appointed Clerk of the Writs. The 
duties of this office were, to fill warrants in civil actions, and to 
keep a record of births and deaths. It was legally distinct from 
the oflice of Town Clerk, who was at the first called the Town 
Recorder, though in many instances both ofiices were held by the 
same individual. 

Mr. Humfrey's barn at Swampscot, with all his corn and hay, 
to the value of one hundred and sixty pounds, was burnt by the 
carelessness of his servant, Henry Stevens, in setting fire to 
some gunpowder. At the court of Assistants, on the first of 
November, ' Henry Stevens, for firing the barn of his master, 
Mr. John Humfrev, he was ordered to be servant to Mr. 



1641.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y X .\ . 115 

Humfrey, for 21 years from this day, towards recompensiiig 
him.' The court afterward allowed Mr. Humfrey for his loss and 
his a:ood services, £250. 

There was one woman in the town at this time, who con- 
tended that all things ought to be common, as atone time among 
the early Christians; but she found it difficult to persuade the 
people that she had as good a right to their property as them- 
selves. She went ' from house to house,' helping herself to such 
little accommodations as she wished, till her demands became 
so extravagant, that she was brought before the Quarterly Court 
at Salem. On the twenty-ninth of September the following 
record was made. ' IMary Bowdwell of Lyn, for her exorbitancy, 
not working, but liveing idly, and stealing, and taking away other 
victuals, pretending communitie of all things ; The court sen- 
tence that she shall be whipped ; but throwe their clemency she 
was only admonished, and respited till next courte.' 

This year a new version of the Psalms was made for public 
worship. It was an octavo volume of 400 pages, and was the 
first book printed in America. The following is a specimen of 
the poetry, from Psalm 44. 

' Our eares have heard our fathers tell 
and reverently record 
The wondrous workes that thou hast done 
in olden time., O Lord. 

How thou didst cast the Gentiles out 

and stroid them with strong hand ; 
planting- our fathers in their place 

and gavest to them their land. 

They conquered not by sword nor strength 

the land of thy behest, 
But by thy hand, thy arm, thy grace, 

because thou louedst them best.' 

1641. Lord Say, having an intention of forming a plan- 
tation at New Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, had 
engaged Mr Humfrey in the design, with the promise of making 
him governor of the new colony. Some of the Lynn people had 
determined to accompany him ; but the intention was frustrated, 
by the island falling, for a time, under the government of Spain. 

Mr John Humfrey was a native of Dorchester, in Dorset- 
shire, England, a lawyer, and a man of considerable wealth 
and good reputation. He married Susan, the second daughter 
of Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, and sister of Frances, the wife of 
Mr. John Gorges, and of Arbella, the wife of Mr. Isaac Johnson. 
He was one of the most intluential in promoting the settlement 
of the colony, and the people of Massachusetts will ever regard 
him as one of their earliest and most efficient benefactors. He 
was one of the original patentees of the colony, and the treas- 
urer of the company at Plymouth, in England ; and by his 
exertions many donations were obtained, and many persons, 



116 HISTOllY OF LYNN. [1641. 

among whom were some of the ministers, were induced to 
emigrate. He was chosen Deputy Governor in 1630, and As- 
sistant in 1632, both before his arrival ; and such was the respect 
in which he was held, that when the formulary for the consti- 
tuting of freemen was in debate, an exception was made in 
favor of ' the old planters and Mr. Humfrey.' He arrived at 
Lynn, in 1634, received several liberal grants from the court, and 
fixed his residence at Swampscot. In discharging the duties of 
an Assistant in the general government, he devoted his time 
and energies for seven years to the service of the state, and 
seems not to have been surpassed in devotedness to her welfare. 
He became a member of the Artillery Company in 1640; and 
in June, 1641, was appointed to the command of all the militia 
in the county, with the title of Sergeant Major General. But 
with all his honors and possessions, a shade of dissatisfaction, 
had spread itself over his prospects, which his numerous mis- 
fortunes contributed to darken. The disappointment of the 
Bahamas must have been severely felt, by a mind so ambitious 
of honor as his appears to have been ; and it is not improbable 
that he experienced a secret chagrin at seeing the young and 
uninformed Henry Vane promoted to the office of governor, 
above one whose years, knowledge, and services, entitled him 
to precedence. It is probable likewise that his affection for his 
wife, whose hopes were in the land of her nativity, had some 
influence in determining his conduct. Living so far removed 
from the elegant circles in which she had delighted, and having 
lost the sister who might have been the companion of her 
solitude, the Lady Susan was weary of the privations of the 
wilderness, the howling of the wild beasts, and the uncouth 
manners of the savages, and had become lonely, disconsolate, 
and homesick. She who had been the dehght of her father's 
house, and had glittered in all the pride of youth and beauty, in 
the court of the first monarch in Europe, was now solitary and 
sad, separated by a wide ocean from her father's home. The 
future greatness of America, which was then uncertain and 
ideal, presented no inducement to her mind to counterbalance 
the losses which were first to be endured ; and the cold and 
barren wilderness of Swampscot, populated by its few lonely 
cottages, round which the Indians were roaming by day, and the 
wolves making their nightly excursions, had nothing lovely to 
offer to soothe her sorrows or elevate her hopes. What the mis- 
fortunes and disappointments of Mr. Humfrey had begun, her 
importunities completed. He sold the principal part of his farm 
to Lady Moody, and returned to England with his wife, on the 
twenty-sixth of October. They were much censured for leav- 
ing their children, but their intention of visiting the Bahamas, 
and the approaching inclemency of the season, rendered it 



1641.] HISTORY OF LYNN. Il7 

imprudent to take them, and they undoubtedly intended to 
return or send for them. That Mr. Humfrey possessed deep 
sympathies, his letters sufficiently evince ; and it would be 
extremely uncharitable to suppose that the Lady Susan was 
without the endowments of maternal love. A woman of high 
feelings and keen sensibilities, the daughter of an English Earl, 
and according to Mr. IMather's own account, of ' the best family 
of any nobleman then in England ' — it cannot be supposed that 
she was destitute of those affections which form the character- 
istic charm of her sex. The emotions of the heart are not always 
regulated by rule, and disappointment sometimes makes sad 
havoc with the best feelings of our nature. 

' 'Tis thus with the dreams of the hig-h heaving heart, 
They come but to blaze, and they blaze to depart ; 
Their gossamer wings are too thin to abide 
The chilling of sorrow, the burning of pride ; 
They come but to brush o'er its young gallant swell. 
Like bright bu'ds over ocean, but never to dwell.' 

John Neal. 

The misfortunes which afterward befel some of the children, 
inflicted a wound on the heart of the affectionate father from 
which he never recovered. In a letter to Governor Winthrop, 
dated 4th September, 1646, he says : ' It is true the want of that 
lost occasion, the loss of all I had in the world, doth, upon rub- 
bings of that irreparable blow, sometimes a little trouble me ; 
but in no respect equal to this, that I see my hopes and possi- 
bilities of ever enjoying those I did or was willing to suffer any 
thing for, utterly taken away. But by what intermediate hand 
soever this has befallen me, whose neglects and unkindness 
God I hope will mind them for their good, yet I desire to look at 
his hand for good I doubt not to me, though I do not so fully see 
which way it may work. Sir, I thank you, again and again, and 
that in sincerity, for any fruits of your goodness to me and mine ; 
and for any thing contrary, I bless his name, I labor to forget, 
and desire him to pardon.' Mr. Humfrey died in 1661, and in 
the same year, his administrators, Joseph Humfrey and Edmund 
Batter, claimed the five hundred acres of land ' by a pond of 
fresh water ' in Lynnfield, which had been given him by the 
court. The character of Mr. Humfrey has been drawn with 
conciseness by Governor Winthrop, who represents him to have 
been ' a gentleman of special parts of learning and activity, and 
a godly man.' His children were John, Joseph, Theophilus, 
Ann, Sarah, and Dorcas. The first married William Palmer, of 
Ardfinan, Ireland, and afterward the Rev. John Miles of Swan- 
zey. I have in my possession a deed signed by her, and sealed 
with the arms of the house of Lincoln. 

Mr. Humfrey appears to have owned nearly all the lands from 



118 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1642. 

Sagamore Hill to Forest River. His house was near the east- 
ern end of Humfrey's heach, and his place there was called the 
Swampscot Farm. His lands were chiefly disposed of in 1681, 
when his daughter Ann sold ten acres to William Bussett, Jr., 
and twenty acres with a house in Nahant street to Ptichard 
Hood. Robert Ingalls bought nine acres of the farm at Swamp- 
scot for two hundred and eighty pounds, and Richard Johnson 
had sixty acres of salt marsh for thirty pounds. The wind-mill 
at Sagamore Hill was valued at sixty pounds. The whole of 
Mr. Humfrey's lands, at Swampscot, were about thirteen hundred 
acres, besides five hundred at Lynnfield. In 1 685, we find that 
Daniel King, senior, having bought four hundred acres of this 
land, mortgages the same to widow Elizabeth Curwen of Salem. 
He afterward married her, and thus secured it; but in 16J0 it 
was again mortgaged to Benjamin Brown of Salem. In 1693, 
March 20, it was sold by Elizabeth and Daniel King to Walter 
Phillips and John Phillips, ancestors of the numerous and 
respectable family of Phillips. This tract of four hundred acres 
is mentioned as beginning at the farther end of the beach be- 
yond Fishing Point, and extending to the west end of the Long 
Pond. Another description of this same four hundred acres, 
makes it extend to Beaver Brook, which is the little stream 
next eastward of Phillip's Pond, and runs out at the bounds 
between Lynn and Salem. Henry Mayo bought Fishing Point, 
which is the point next east of Swampscot, which he sold, 
March 10, 1696, to Walter Phillips, for one hundred and forty 
pounds. Mr. Humfrey's house and the land adjacent, was 
bought by Hon. Ebenezer Burrill, in whose family it remained 
until 1797, when it was bought by Robert Hooper of Marble- 
head. In 1842, his daughter Hannah, widow of William Reed, 
sold it to Mr. Enoch Redington Mudge of Lynn, who has built, 
near the old house, a beautiful gothic stone cottage, worthy of 
the olden time. 

In the early part of this year, says Governor Winthrop, ' a 
goodly maid of the church of Linne, going in a deep snow from 
Meadford homeward, was lost, and some of her clothes found 
after among the rocks.' 

1642. The winter was exceedingly cold, with deep snow, 
and the harbor was passable with teams for five weeks. The 
Indians said that the weather had not been so cold for forty 
years. 

A great alarm was occasioned through the colony by a report 
that the Indians intended to exterminate the English. The 
people were ordered to keep a watch from sunset to sunrise, and 
blacksmiths were directed to suspend all other business till the 
arms of the colony were repaired. A house was built for the 



1642.1 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



119 



soldiers, and another, about forty feet long, for a safe retreat for 
the women and children of the town, in case of an attack from 
the Indians. These houses were within the limits of Saugus, 
about eighty rods from the eastern boundary, and about the 
same distance south of AValnut street. The cellars of both these 
buildings remain, and near them, on the east, is a fine unfail- 
ing spring. 

At the Salem Court, July 12, ' George Sagamore and Edward, 
alias Ned,' prosecuted Francis Lightfoot for land. The case 
was referred to the Boston court. 

Governor Dudley, in a letter to his son in England, dated 
November 28, remarks, ' There is a want of school-masters 
hereabouts.' 

At the Quarterly Court, December 14, ' The Lady Deborah 
Moodie, Mrs. King, and the wife of John Tillton, were presented, 
for houldinge that the baptising of Infants is noe ordinance of 
God.' 





Mark X : 14. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Iron Foundry established, the first in America — Joseph Jenks, and other Inhabitants 
— ' Simple Cobler' — Laws concerning Courtship and Long Hair — More Inhab- 
itants — Persecution of the Baptists — Johnson's Description of Lynn — Shoes — 
Money Coined — The First Fire Engine — Life of Rev. Thomas Cobbet. 1643 
to 1656. 

A second multitude. 

With wondrous art, founded the mas87 ore. 

Milton. 

RON ORE was discovered in Lynn at a very early 
period, but no attempt was made to work it until the 
year 1643. It is of the kind called Bog Iron, and 
was found in large quantities in various places within 
^ a mile or two from the meeting-house, where it still 
^'i exists. The great want in the country of iron tools 
and iron ware, induced several enterprising gentlemen to attempt 
the establishment of a Forge. Among the principal of these 
were Thomas Dexter and Robert Bridges. Mr. Dexter was a 
very active and energetic man, foremost in every public enter- 
prise ; and his greatest fault appears to have consisted in speak- 
ing somewhat too freely of the government, because they did 
not keep up with his plans of improvement. The character of 
Hon. Robert Bridges has been given by Johnson, in a few words ; 
' he was endued with able parts, and forward to improve them 
to the glory of God and his people's good.' 

This year, Mr. Bridges took some specimens of the Iron ore 
from the mines in Saugus, and went to London, where he suc- 
ceeded in forming a company, called the ' Company of Under- 
takers for the Iron Works,' consisting of the following wealthy 
and enterprising gentlemen. 

Lionel Copley, Esquire, of York County, England. 

Nicholas Bond, Esquire, of Westminster. 

Thomas Pury, Esquire, of Westminster. 

John Becx, London, Merchant. 

William Beauchamp, London, Merchant. 

Thomas Foley, London, Gentleman. 

William Greenhill, Stepney, Middlesex County. 

Thomas Weld, Minister, Gateshead, Durham County. 

John Pococke, INIerchant Tailor, London. 



1642.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 121 

William Becke, Merchant Tailor, London. 

William Hicocke, London, Citizen. 

This company advanced one thousand pounds for commencing 
the work. Land was purchased of Thomas Hudson, and a 
Foundry erected on the western bank of Saugus river, where 
large heaps of scoria are still to be seen. John Winthrop, Jr., 
also engaged in the enterprise ; and Mr. Endecott, of Salem, in 
a letter to Governor Winthrop, dated December 1, says, ' I want 
much to hear from your son's iron and steel.' The village at 
the Iron Works was called Hammersmith, from some of the 
principal workmen who came from a place of that name in 
England. This Iron Foundry at Lynn, was the first which 
was established in America. 

Several persons came from England tliis year to engage in the 
L'on Works, either as superintendents or workmen, among 
whom were the following : 

Richard Leader was General Agent for the Company of the 
Undertakers for the Iron Works, and is mentioned as a man of 
superior ability. 

Hemy Leonard was a workman at the Iron Foundry. The 
family of the Leonards have been extensively engaged in the 
manufacture of Iron, in various places, ever since their ances- 
tor assisted to make the first castings at Lynn. 

Henry Styche lived at the Iron Works. It appears by a 
deposition given by him, at the Salem Court, in 1653, that he 
was then 103 years of age. 

Arsbell Anderson came from Scotland, and was a workman at 
the Iron Foundry. He died in 1661. 

Mac Galium More Downing came from Scotland. He worked 
at the Forge, and died in 1683. 

Joseph Jenks came from Hammersmith in England. He 
was a Machinist at the Iron Foundry, and was a man of great 
genius, of which abundant evidence will be found in this history. 
He made the dies for coining the first money, built the first fire- 
engine, and took out several patents for improvements in mills 
and iron tools. He is said to have been descended from an 
ancient family in Wales. He came over a widower, leaving two 

sons in England, and married Elizabeth , by whom he had 

one son and two daughters. He died in March, 1683, and his 
wife Elizabeth died in July, 1679. His children were, 1. Joseph, 
born in England, resided some time in Lynn, where he married 
Esther, daughter of William Ballard. He then removed to 
Pawtucket, where he built a forge, which was destroyed in the 
Wampanoag war in J 675. In 1681, he was an Assistant in the 
government of Rhode Island; he had a son, Joseph Jenks, who 
was governor of that State from 1727 to 1732. 2. George, went 
to Virginia. 3. Sara, married John Chilson. 4. Samuel, like 
16 



122 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1643. 

his father, was a workman in Iron, and married EHzabeth Dar- 
hng. 5. Deborah. 6. John, married Sarah Merriam. 7. Daniel, 
went to Rhode Island, where he bnilt several mills. The 
descendants of Joseph Jenks, throughout New Englaxid, are 
numerous, and several of them have been eminent; among 
whom is the Rev. WilUam Jenks, D. D., of Boston. 

Joseph Jenks, the founder of this family, deserves to be held 
in perpetual remembrance in American History, as being the 
first founder 'who worked in Brass and Iron' on the western 
continent. By his hands the first models were made, and the 
first castings taken of many domestic implements and iron tools. 
The first article said to have been cast, was a small iron pot, 
capable of containing about one quart. Thomas Hudson, of 
the same family with the celebrated Hendric Hudson, and the 
lineal ancestor of my mother, was the first proprietor of the 
lands on Saugus River, where the Iron Foundry stood. When 
the forge was established, he procured the first casting, which 
was this famous old iron pot, which he preserved as a curiosity. 
It has been handed down in the family ever since, and is now 
in the possession of my mother, who, I suppose, would not 
exchange it for a silver one. 

1643. Much difliculty was occasioned for several years, by 
an opinion which some of the people entertained, that the bap- 
tism of infants was sinful. Mr. William Witter was presented 
at the Salem Court for his conduct in this respect, and on the 
twenty-eighth of February, the following record was made : 
'William Witter — Now comeing in, answered humbly, and 
confessed his Ignorance, and his willingness to see Light, and, 
(upon Mr. Norris our Elder his speech,) seemed to be stagered, 
Inasmuch as that he came in court meltinglie. Sentence — 
Have called our ordenonce of God, a badge of the whore on 
some Lecture day, the next 5ih day being a public fast. To 
acknowledge his fait. And to ask Mr. Cobbett forgiveness, in 
saying he spok against his conscience. And enjoined to be 
heare next court att Salem.' 

At the same court, Roger Scott was presented, ' for common 
sleeping at the j^ublic exercise upon the Lord's day, and for 
striking him that waked him.' In December following, not 
having amended his conduct, he was sentenced by the court, 
' to be severely whipped.' It was the custom at this time, 
during the public service, for a person to go about the meeting 
to wake the sleepers. He bore a long wand, on one end of 
which was a ball, and on the other a fox tail. When he 
observed the men asleep, he rapped them on the head with the 
knob; and roused the slumbering sensibilities of the ladies by 
drawing the brush lightly across their faces. 

On Sunday morning, March 5, there was an earthquake. 



1644.] u 1 s T o 11 y of l v n n . 123 

A controversy was in agitation respecting the right of the 
assistants to a negative vote upon the resolves of the representa- 
tives. Mr. Cobbet wrote a treatise, in which he advocated the 
right of the assistants, and the question was finally decided in 
their favor. 

On the fifth of June, says Governor AVinthrop, ' there arose a 
sudden gust at NW. so violent for half an hour as it blew down 
multitudes of trees. It lifted up their meeting-house at New- 
bury, the people being in it. It darkened the air with dust, yet 
through God's great mercy it did no hurt, but only killed one 
Indian. It was straight between Linne and Hampton.' 

In June, Mr. Edward Tomlins was appointed by the court a 
commissioner to treat with the Indians. He was also appointed 
Clerk of the Writs, instead of Mr. Richard Sadler. 

Mr. Joseph Arraitage, who kept the Tavern on the west of 
Saugus River, having become involved in pecuniary difiiculty. 
in consequence of certain speculations beyond his means, his 
wife Jane presented a petition to the General Court, in June, 
that they would ' reconfirrae the custody of the said ordinary to 
the petioness.' It was signed by the two ministers, and by 
thirty-two other principal inhabitants, and was granted on the 
twenty-sixth of October. ' Joseph Armitage is allowed to keep 
the ordinary, but not to draw wine.' 

It was probably on account of this refusal of the court, to 
allow Mr. Armitage to sell spirit, that he procured the warrant 
mentioned in the Salem Court files, December 27th, whea 
Joseph Armitage was presented, ' for procuring a warrant for 
seaventy persons to appeare forthwithe before the Governor, 
which we conceave may be of dangerous consequence.' 

1644. The Company of Undertakers for the Iron Works, 
on the seventh of March, laid before the court ten propositions 
for the advancement of their designs ; the most important of 
which were granted. They were allowed permission to make 
use of six places, three miles square in each place, wherever 
they might choose, without interfering with previous grants. 
Their privileges were to continue twenty-one years ; with 
exemption of themselves, their workmen, and stock, from all 
public taxes, for ten years. 

On the twentieth of May, the court allowed the town ' thirty 
sacre shot' for their two great guns, of which Captain Robert 
Bridges liad the care. At the same court, the name of Lynn 
Village was altered to Reading. 

At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-seventh of August, 
the following persons were presented. ' Wm. Hewes and John 
his son, for deriding such as Sing in the Congregation, tearm- 
ing them fooles ; also William Hewes for saying Mr. Whiting 



124 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1645. 

preaches confusedly ; also John Hewes for charging Mr. Cobbitt 
with falshood in his doctrine. Wm. Hewes, and John his son, 
shall pay 50s. a peece for a fine, and that it be Injoyned they 
shall make an humble confession at Lynn, at a publick meetmg, 
which according to it the Court will consider of their fines.' 

On the thirteenth of November, the Iron Company presented 
to the court seven more propositions ; in reply to which, the 
court, in addition to their former grants, allowed them three 
years ' for the perfecting of their worke, and furnishing of the 
country with all sorts of barr iron.' They gave any of the 
inhabitants liberty to share in the work, by ' bringing in within 
one year, no less than 100£ a person, with allowance to the 
adventurers, &c., for 1000£ already disbursed;' if they would 
complete the finery and forge, as well as the furnace, which ' is 
already set up.' They gave them liberty, in all waste places, 
' to make use of all yron ston, or yron oare,' to cut wood, and to 
make ponds and highways. They likewise granted them 
immunities, civil and religious, equal with any in the jurisdic- 
tion ; and recommended them to provide religious instruction 
for the families of their workmen, who were to be free from all 
watchings against the Indians, and from all trainings. 

1645. The establishment of the Iron Foundiy was highly 
approved by the Court, who passed the following order on the 
fourteenth of May. 

' Whereas it is now found by sufficient purpose that the iron 
work is very successful, both in the richness of the ore and the 
goodness of the iron, and like to be of great benefit to the whole 
country, especially if the inhabitants here should be interested 
therein, in some good proportion, one half at the least, and 
whereas the time limited for adventurers to come in will be 
expired in the ninth month next : This Court taking the same 
into serious consideration, and being careful that such an oppor- 
tunity, for so great advantage to the Commonwealth might not 
be let slip : have taken order, that speedy notice thereof should 
be given to every town within this jurisdiction, expecting that 
all such persons, as are of sufficient ability, and intend their own 
benefit, with the common good will forthwith appear to come in 
to share in the work, according to their abilities, and for their 
better instruction, and direction herein, they are hereby to under- 
stand that there is already disbursed between £1200, and £1500, 
with which the furnace is built, with that which bclongeth to it, 
and good quantity of mine, coal and wood provided, and some 
ons of sow iron cast, and some other things, in readiness, for 
the forge, &c., they are also to know that no adventurer is to put 
in less than £100 : but divers may join together to make uji that 
sum : so it come all under one name, there will be need of some 



1G40.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 125 

£1500 to finish the forge, &c., which will be accepted in money, 
beaver, Avheat, coals, or any such commodities, as will satisfy the 
workmen, and these are to be paid in to Mr. Henry Webb, of 
Boston, by such direction as they may receive from the under- 
takers, Mr. John Winthrop, jun., major Sedgwick, Mr. Henry 
Webb aforesaid, and Mr. Joshua Hewes ; the new adventurers 
are also to know, that they must bear their part, in such loss, as 
is befallen the first stock, by forbearance, or otherwise, to the 
time of the new adventurers paying in their adventures, and all 
such, as will adventure are desired to hasten their resolutions 
that the work may go on speedily.' 

A question has arisen, whether the first forge might not have 
been established at Braintree. It certainly was not. The first 
purchase of land for the iron works at Braintree, which has been 
discovered, was not till some months after this time, namely, on 
the twenty-ninth of September, 1645, when George Ruggles 
sold Richard Leader twenty acres. The grant of ' 2860 acres,' 
made for the iron works ' to be set up ' at Braintree, was not 
laid out till the eleventh of January, 1648. It is certain that an 
Iron Foundry was in successful operation at Lynn, as early as 
1643, and as mention is only made by the court of one forge, it 
follows of course that it must have been this. In 1691, iron ore, 
called ' Ptock mine,' was taken from the ledges at Nahant for 
the forge at Braintree. 

The court ordered, that youth, from ten to sixteen years of 
age, should be exercised, on training days, in the use of small 
guns, half pikes, and bows and arrows. They also ordered, that 
any person who should make or publish a false report, should be 
fined ten shillings, or set in the stocks. 

Mr. Edward Burcham was chosen ' Clarke of the Writts, and 
to record deaths, births, and marriages for the Towne.' 

' Thomas Layton hath Liberty granted him by the house of 
deputies, to drawe wine for the town for one yeare.' 

' Thomas Layghton, Edward Burcham, and Thomas Puttnara 
are chosen by the house of deputies to end small controversies.' 

The number of inhabitants having been considerably dimin- 
ished by the removal of so many families to Beading, Long 
Island, and other places, a petition was presented to the court 
for an abatement of taxes. The original paper, very much torn 
and trampled by the mob, which dilapidated Governor Hutchin- 
son's house and papers in 1765, is still in existence. It com- 
mences with ' humbly shewing, that whereas the overrulinge 
Providence of God hath much weakened our hands, which yet 
were never of like strength with others about us, to bear such a 
share in the Publique disbursements and debts of the country 
as formerly, we therefore make bold truly to Informe this hon- 
oured Court of our Infeebled estate with which we have more 



126 HISTORY Of LYNN. [1645. 

Immediate cause to be best acquainted. Those fewe able 
persons which were with and of us, Its not unknowne how many 
of them have deserted us ; as my lady Moody, whose share, in a 
former rate of this town, at 80£. was above 4 £. and her estate, 
left now in a life rate, pays not 1 £. 10 s. Mr. Howel 6 £. Mr. 
Willis 5 £. Mr. Keayne 2 £. Mr. Edward Tomlins neare 3 £. 
John Poole 1 £ 15s. Mr. Sadler 1 £. 10s. Nic Browne as much. 
Lieftenant Walker l£. Wm. Halsey l£. John Cowper l£. Mr. 
Wade 12s. James Hubbard 12s. Wm. Cowdrey, Wm. Blott, Wm. 
Martin, Thomas Marshall, Zacharyffitch, 10s. each of them, besides 
above 20 more whose share in such a rate was, some 8, some 7,' 
&c. The petitioners state, that between ' two and three hun- 
dred acres of the deserted farms is soe overrun with Sorrel that 
it is scarce quittinge cost to such whose necessities is such as 
with us force them to improve the same. We would not envy 
our neighbor townes, which are of the risinge hand by tradinge 
or otherwayes, we rather wish theyr prosperity, but for ourselves, 
we are neither fitted for or inured to any such course of trade, 
but must awayte God's blessinge alone upon our Lands and 
Cattel ; our Earnest Request therefore is, that this honoured Court, 
in which is the Confluence of the wisdom, fidelity, and Equity 
of the Country, would please seriously to weigh the premises 
touching our present estate, and proportion out such share of 
Publique Charges, according not to our supposed but real Abili- 
ties which the Lord hath left us, and we shall cheerfully put too 
our shoulders and continue our joynt prayers for you and yours. 
Resting yours to serve and obey in the Lord.' This petition 
was signed by Thomas Putnam, Francis Lightfoot, Henry Col- 
lins, WiUiam Longley, and Thomas Laighton, Selectmen. The 
court, in their reply say, ' We conceive the estate of lin should 
be considered ; ' and when they lay the tax, which was £616,15, 
they required only £25 from Lynn. 

Some of the inhabitants of Lynn and Salem petitioned the 
court for liberty to form an independent company. The court 
gave permission, and a band was formed, called ' The Military 
Company of Lynn and Salem.' 

At the Quarterly Court, on the fifth of July, Samuel Bennet 
was presented, ' for saying, in a scornful manner, he neither 
cared for the Towne, nor any order the Towne could make.' 

Captain Robert Bridges was appointed by the court, a com- 
missioner to negotiate between Lord De La Tour and Monsieur 
D'Aulney, the governors of the French provinces on the north 
of New England. He was accompanied by Richard Walker 
and Thomas Marshall. For their ' good service ' in this embassy. 
Captain Bridges was allowed ten pounds. Lieutenant Walker 
four pounds, and Sergeant Marshall forty shillings. 

On the fourteenth of October, the Company of Ui.dertakers 
for the Lon Works presented a petition to the court, which was 



1615.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 127 

granted. As the answer of the court comprises some interesting 
information respecting the Iron Works, it is transcribed. 

' 1. It was granted and by this court ordered, that the under- 
takers, their agents and assigns, are hereby granted the sole 
privilege and benefit of making Iron and managing of all Iron 
mines and works that now are, or shall be discovered and found 
out, or hereafter shall be in this jurisdiction, for the term of 
twenty-one years from the former grant : Provided that the said 
adventurers, their agents or assigns, do within three years from 
the former date, use their best endeavors to their utmost skill to 
perfect so many of the said works, that the inhabitants of this 
jurisdiction be furnished with bar iron of all sorts for their use, 
not exceeding twenty pounds per ton. Provided also, that it 
shall be in the liberty of any within this jurisdiction to be adven- 
turers with the undertakers, that by the last day of this Octo- 
ber they bring in their adventures, not less in one man's name 
than fifty pounds, with allowance to the adventurers, for the 
stock of one thousand pounds, by them already disbursed. 

' 2. The Court doth hereby further grant to the said under- 
takers, their agents and assigns, in all places of waste and lands 
not appropriated to any town or person, that the said undertakers, 
their agents or assigns, at all times during the said term of 
twenty-one years, shall and may freely and at their own discre- 
tion have and take, all manner of wood and timber, to be con- 
verted into coals, or any other uses for the service of the under- 
takers, as also all manner of earth, stones, turf, clay, and other 
materials for buildings and reparation of their works, forges, mills, 
or houses built, or to be built, or for making or moulding any 
manner of guns, pots, and all other cast-iron ware, and for con- 
verting wood into charcoal, and also to get, dig, and carry away 
of all manner of stone iron ore and wood of all sorts ; and any other 
material, or things of use for their works, and it is hereby also 
granted to the said undertakers, their agents, or assigns, that they 
shall have free liberty to make all convenient ways and passages, 
as also all manner of dams, watercourses, sluices, ponds for water, 
in all waste grounds, or other conveyances, to, from and for the 
service of the said works built or to be built not appropriated to 
any town or person, during such time as the said works shall 
continue. Provided, if by any pond, sluice, dam, or any other 
work (though in land appropriated) they should spoil, or any 
ways prejudice the land appropriated to any town or person the 
said undertakers shall make due and just satisfiiction. 

' 3. Also the Court doth hereby further grant to the said 
adventurers, their agents, or assigns, in all the grounds that are 
or shall be appropriated, that the said adventurers, their agents 
or assigns, shall have free liberty at all times during the term to 
dig, get, carry away all manner of stone, or iron ore, and to 



128 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1645. 

make and use all convenient ways and sluices, water-courses, 
pools, dams, ponds for water, and other conveniences, to, from, 
and for the service of the said works through all the said grounds, 
that are or hereafter shall be appropriated, (except houses, 
orchards, not exceeding three acres and yards) giving such due 
and full recompense for the same to the owners thereof, for the 
time being, as three indifferent men shall adjudge, whereof one 
to be appointed by the said court at the next general meeting 
after the undertakers, their agents or assigns, shall make or use 
any of the said ways, or water-courses, or other particulars 
therein mentioned for the services aforesaid, and one other by 
the owner of the land for the time being, and the third by the 
undertakers or adventurers. 

' 4. The Court hereby do further grant unto the said adven- 
turers and to their heirs and assigns forever, so much land now 
or hereafter to be in this jurisdiction, as aforesaid, as shall con- 
tain in six places three miles square in each place, or so much 
in quantity as containeth three miles square not exceeding four 
miles in length to be set out in such places and parcels, as the 
said undertakers or their agents shall make choice of, not being 
already appropriated as aforesaid, upon which said land the said 
adventurers shall have free liberty and hereby do undertake that 
within the said term of [twenty-one] years, to search, set out and 
find convenient places within the said compass of land ; for the 
building and setting up of six forges, or furnaces, and not bloom- 
aries only, or so many more as they shall have occasion for, for 
the making of iron as aforesaid, which they shall, (the iron stone 
and other materials appearing proper and fit for the making of 
iron as aforesaid,) build and set up within the term aforesaid. 
Provided that the Court may grant a plantation in any place 
where the court doth think meet, the undertakers or their agents 
there residing having first notice thereof, and not making choice 
of the same for part of the land to be set out and granted to 
them, for the design of planting the said iron works and making 
iron as aforesaid. 

' 5. And it is further granted and ordered that what quantity 
of iron of all sorts and qualities the said adventurers, their agents 
or assigns, shall make more than the inhabitants shall have need 
or use of for their service to be bought and paid for by the said 
inhabitants as aforesaid, they shall have free liberty to transport 
the same by shipping to other ports or places of the world, and 
to make sale thereof, in what way and place the said adven- 
turers shall please, for their best advantage, Provided they sell it 
not to any person or state in actual hostility with us. 

' 6. It is'further granted and ordered that the said undertakers 
and agents, and servants, shall, from the date of their presents, 
have and enjoy all liberties and immunities whatsoever, present 
or to come, equal with any in this jurisdiction, according to the 



1645.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 129 

laws and orders thereof, for the time being, and according to the 
rights and privileges of the churches. 

' 7. It is also granted that the undertakers and adventurers, 
together with their agents, servants, and assigns, shall be and 
are hereby free from all taxes, assessn^ients, contributions, and 
other public charges whatsoever, for so much of their stock or 
goods as shall be employed in and about the said iron works 
for and during the term of [twenty-one] years yet to come from 
the date of their presents. 

' 8. It is also hereby further granted and ordered that all such 
clerks and workmen as miners, founders, finers, hammer-men, 
and colliers, necessarily employed, or to be employed in and 
about the said works, built or to be built, for any the services 
thereof, shall from time to time during the terra of [twenty-one] 
years, be and hereby are absolutely freed and discharged of and 
from all ordinary trainings, watchings, etc., but that every person 
at all times be furnished with arms, powder, shot, etc., according 
to order of court. 

' 9. Lastly. It is ordered by the Court, that in all places 
where any iron work is set up, remote from a church or congre- 
gation, unto which they cannot conveniently come, that the 
undertakers shall provide some good means whereby their fami- 
lies may be instructed in the knowledge of God, by such as the 
court or standing council shall approve of 

On the twenty-second of December, ' Thomas Hudson of 
Linne, granted unto Thos. Hutchinson of Linne, sixty acres of 
ground amongst the ffurnaces, adjoyning to Goodman Townsend's 
ffarme.' 

A book was written this year, by Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of 
Ipswich, which attracted much attention. It is entitled ' The 
Simple Cobler of Aggawam, willing to help mend his Native 
Country, lamentably tattered, both in Upper Leather and Sole, 
with all the honest Stitches he can take.' It abounds in pun- 
gent wit and satire, interspersed with much good sense. He is 
particularly severe on those who cause innovations in religion, 
and deny the rite of infant baptism. He says, ' The removing 
of some one iota in scripture, may draw out all the life, and 
traverse all the truths of the Bible. To authorize an untruth by 
a toleration of state, is to build a sconce against the walls of 
heaven, to batter God out of his chair I ' His book concludes 
with tbe following stanza : 

' And farewell, Simple World, 
If thou 'It thy cranium mend, 
There is my Last and Awl. 
And a f?hoemnker's End I ' 

17 



130 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1646. 



1646. The proprietors of the Iron Works, in the beginning of 
this year, made an agreement with Thomas Dexter, for opening a 
new water-course, and enlarging tlie pond. They purchased 
• all that parcell of land.neere adjacent to the Grantor's house, 
which shall necessarily be overflowed by reason of a pond of 
water, there included, to be stopped to the heighth agreed on 
betwixt them; and sufficient for a water-course intended to be 
erected, together with the land lying betweene the ould water- 
course and the new one, And also five acres and halfe in the 
cornfield next the Grantor's house,' for which they allowed £40. 
They agreed to make a fence ' toward Captain Bridge's house,' 
with ' a sufficient cart bridge over the said water-course,' and ' to 
allow sufficient water in the ould river for the Alewives to come 
to the wyres before the Grantor's house.' This extension of the 
pond caused it to overflow three acres of land belonging to Mr. 
Adam Hawkes. The whole amount purchased was forty-five 
acres. 

Thomas Dexter's house stood at some distance above the Iron 
Works on the left. The present road to the northward runs 
through the bed of the old pond. This year the dam was moved 
further up the river, and a little canal was dug from the pond, 
and brought along on the high ground, until it reached the Foun- 
dry. This canal was the ' new water course ' mentioned in the 
preceding agreement. 

On the eighteenth of February, Mr. AVilliam Witter was pre- 
sented at the Quarterly Court, ' flbr saying that they who stayed 
while a Childe is baptized, doe worshipp the dyvill ; also Henry 
Collens and Mathew West, deling with him about the former 
speeche, he speaks to them after this manner. That they who 
stayed at the baptising of a Childe, did take the name of the 
Father, Sonn, and holly ghost in vain and broke the Saboth, and 
cenfesseth and justifieth his former speech. Sentence of Court 
is, an Iniunction next Lord's day being faire, that he make a 
publique confession to Satisfaction, in the open congregation at 
Lyn, or else to answer it at the next General Court. And con- 
cerning his opinion, the court hath yet patience toward him, till 
they see if he be obstinate, and only admonish him.' 

By permission of the court, Mr. Leader purchased some of the 
country's Gunnes,' to melt over at the Iron Foundry. 

On the tenth of June, Mr. Joseph Jenks presented a petition 
that the Court would patronise his improvements in mills, and 
the manufacture of sythes. ' In Answer to a peticon of Joseph 
Jencks for liberty to make experience of his abillityes and Inven- 
tions for the making of engines for mills, to goe with water, for 
the more speedy despatch of worke than formerly, and mills for 
the making of sithes and other edge tooles, with a new Invented 



1646.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 131 

sawemill, that things maybe aiforded cheaper than formerly, and 
that for fourteen yeeres without disturbance by any other's set- 
ting up the like Invention, that so his study and costs may not be 
in vayne or lost, this peticon was graunted, so as power is still 
left to restrayne the exportation of such manufactures, and to 
moderate the prizes thereof, if occacon so require.' 

Mr. Daniel King complained to the Court that his goods had 
been taken, to the amount of fifty shillings, by ' the captain of 
ye trayned band of Lin, for supposed neglect of trayning, he be- 
ing lame, and willing to find a sufficient man.' The court ordered 
him to pay the fifty shillings for the past, and ten shillings annu- 
ally for the future. 

Ptluch damage was done to the corn, wheat, and barley, this 
summer, by a species of large black caterpillar. 

On the fourth of August, Mr. Thomas Dexter was presented 
at the Quarterly Court ' for a common sleeper,' in meetings for 
public worship, and fined. 

The proprietors of the Iron Works addressed a letter to the 
court in IMay, which was answered in September. In their re- 
ply, the court say, ' We acknowledge with you that such a staple 
comodity as Iron is a great meanes to enrich the place where it 
is, both by furnishing this place with that comodity at reasona- 
ble rates, and by bringing in other necessary comodityes in ex- 
change of Iron exported, but as we use to say, if a man lives 
where an axe is worth but 12d., yet it is never the cheaper to 
him who cannot get 12d. to buy one. So if your Iron may not 
be had heere without ready mony what advantage will that be 
to us if wee have no money to purchase it. Itt is true some men 
have here Spanish mony sometimes, but little comes to our 
Smiths hands, especially those of inland tonnes. Whatmonyes 
our Smithes cann gett you may be sure to have it before any 
other ; if we must want iron so often as our mony fades, you 
may easily Judge if it were not better for us to Procure it from 
other places by our corne and pipe staves, Szc, then to depend 
on the comming in of mony which is never so plentifull as to 
supply for the occacon,' 

In October, Captain Robert Bridges was chosen Speaker of 
the House of Representatives. 

On the night of the fourth of November, began ' a most dread- 
ful tempest at northeast, with wind and rain.' The roof of Lady 
Moody's house at Salem was blown off Winthrop. 

At the court, in this month, ' on the motion of the deputies of 
the towne of Linne ; It is ordered,that there shal be once a weeke 
a market kept there on every third day of the weeke, being their 
lecture day.' 



132 H I S T O 11 Y OF LYNN. [1647. 



1647. On the twentieth of Januar}% Richard Leader sold to 
Joseph Jenks, the privilege to build a forge at the Iron "Works, 
for the manufacture of sythes. 

On the twenty-sixth of May, Captain Robert Bridges was 
chosen an Assistant. 

In June, an epidemic sickness prevailed through the whole 
country, supposed to have been the influenza. 

In October, the court ordered, that eveiy town containing 
fifty families, should have a school for reading and writing ; and 
that all towns containing one hundred families, should maintain 
a grammar school. 

An order was passed, that if any young man should address a 
young woman, without the consent of her parents, or in their 
absence, of the county court, he should be fined five pounds. 

The court fixed the prices of grain to be received for taxes ; 
Indian corn at 3s., rye and peas at 3s. 6d., barley at 4s., and wheat 
at 4s. 6d. a bushel. 

Among the presentments at the Quarterly Court, was the fol- 
lowing. December 14. The town of Lynn, for want of a staff 
for the constable.' 

December 29. ' John Turner, living at the Iron Workes at 
Lin, being convicted before the court for stabbing Sara Turner, 
his daughter-in-law — the sentence of court is, that he shall be 
severely whipped.' 

1648. Mr. Edmund Ingalls, the first white inhabitant of 
Lynn, was drowned, in March, in crossing Saugus River. Soon 
after, ' Robert Ingalls, with the rest of his brethren and sisters, 
being eight in number,' petitioned the General Court, ' That 
whereas their Father hath been deprived of life by the insuffi- 
ciency of Lynn Bridge, that according to the law in such cases, 
there shall be an hundred pounds forfeited to the next heir.' 
This was granted. It was in conformity with an old British 
law, established by Howell the Good, King of Wales, by which 
the value of each person's life was nominally fbced, and so much 
money paid, in case of his being killed. 

On the twenty-third of March, the court allowed the town 
twenty pounds, toward repairing the ' great bridge ' over Saugus 
river. On the eighteenth of October, thirty shillings were 
granted annually for the same purpose. 

On the twenty-seventh of April, Captain Robert Bridge's 
house, near the Iron Works, w^s burnt. Winthrop. 

In June, Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, was executed at 
Boston, for a witch. This was the first execution for this ofience 
in New England, and should have been the last. 

In a letter to his son, dated August 4, Mr. Winthrop remarks: 



1649.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 133 

' The iron work goeth on with more hope. It yields now about 
7 tons per week, but it is most out of that brown earth which 
lies under the bog mine. They tried another mine, and after 24 
hours they had a sum of about 500, wiiich when they brake, 
they conceived to be a 5th part silver. There is a grave man of 
good fashion come now over to see how things stand here. He 
is one who hath been exercised in iron works.' In another 
letter, September 30, he says, ' The furnace runs 8 tons per 
week, and their bar iron is as good as Spanish. The adventur- 
ers in England sent over one Mi*. Dawes to oversee Mr. Leader, 
but he is far short of Mr. Leader. They could not agree, so he 
is returned by TenerifFe.' 

1649. The Kev. Thomas Cobbet preached, the Election 
Sermon before the court, on the third of May. 

On the tenth, the Governor and Assistants, among whom was 
Captain Robert Bridges, signed a protestation against the pre- 
vailing custom of wearing long hair, ' after the manner of ruthans 
and barbarous Indians.' 

On the seventh of September, Nicholas Pinion was presented 
at the Quarterly court, for swearing. ' The deposition of Quin- 
ten Pray. This deponent saith, that meetinge with Nicholas 
Pinion the last Lord's day, cominge out of his corne, hee heard 
the said Pinion sware all his pumpkins were turned to squashes.' 
The court, as a comment upon Mr. Johnson's text, (p. 33, old 
edition,) 'let no man make a jest at pumpkins,' fined him. 

On the eleventh, Matthew Stanley was tried for winning the 
affections of John Tarbox's daughter, without the consent of her 
parents. He was fined £5, with 2s. 6d. fees. The parents of 
the young woman were allowed sLx shillings for their attend- 
ance three days. 

1650. In the preceding pages, I have given the names of 
every man whom I found in Lynn before the year 1650, except- 
ing those who staid but a short time, and left to settle in other 
places. I shall here give a list of a few more names, which I 
find before the year 1690, and after that time they become too 
numerous to be continued. 

Samuel Appleton, Jr., was here from 1677 to 1688, in con- 
nexion with the Iron Works, which he owned at that time. He 
was a descendant of John Appulton, who died at Great Wal- 
dingford, in 1436. The following record of his family is from the 
old volume of Lynn Records, which was dif;covercd by me, after 
it had been lost for many years. ' Mr. Samuell Aploton, Junior, 
and Mis Elizabeth Whittingham, the Daughter of Mr. William 
Whittingham, Marchant, in Boston, was married the 19th 
of June, 1682. Mary, the Daughter of Mr. Sarauell Appleton 



134 HISTORY OF LYJMN. [1650* 

and of Elizabeth his wiffe, was bom into this world the 30 of 
March, 1683. Hannah ther Daughter was born the first of 
November, 1684. Elizabeth their daughter was Born the 10th 
of July, 1687.' He removed to Boston in 1088; and was the 
ancestor of the very respectable family of Appletons in that city. 

Thomas Berry married Elizabeth, and had two sons ; Thomas, 
born March 14, 1695; and Samuel, born June 25, 1697. His 
descendants remain. 

John Blaney married Elizabeth Purchis in November, 1678. 
He had a son Joseph, whose descendants live at Swampscot. 

Samuel Bly married Lois Ivory, December 19, 1678, and died 
December 31, 1693. He had two sons, Theophilusand Samuel. 

Thomas Brewer married Elizabeth Graves, December 4, 1682, 
and had six children ; Mary, Pvebecca, Mary, Crispus, Thomas, 
and John. 

William Barber married Elizabeth Kirk, May 4, 1673. He had 
two children; Elizabeth, born November 1, 1673; William, 
born January 8, 1674. 

John Henry Burchsted, a native of Silesia, married Mary, widow 
of Nathaniel Kertland, April 24, 1690. Henry, his son, was 
born October 3, 1690. They were both eminent physicians, and 
lived on the hill in front of High Rock, where Dr. Richard Hasel- 
tine's house stands. Dr. John Henry Burchsted died September 
20, 1721, aged 64 years. The following is his epitaph : 

Silesia to New England sent this man, 
To do Iheir ail that any healer can, 
But he who conqnered all diseases must 
Find one who throws him down into the dust. 
A chemist near to an adeptist come, 
Leaves here, thrown by, his caput mortuum. 
Reader, physicians die as others do ; 
Prepare, for thou to this art hastening too. 

Thomas Beal had two sons. William married widow Mary 
Hart, March 5, 1684. Samuel married Patience Lovell, March 
28, 1682. 

Thomas Burrage married Elizabeth, 1687, and had six chil- 
dren ; Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Bethiah, and Ruth. 

John Coats and Mary Witherdin, Avere married April 14, 1681, 
and had two children, Mary and John. 

Philip Giflbrd married Mary Davis, June 30, 1684. He had 
two children, Philip and Mary. 

Zaccheus Gould had a son Daniel, born about 1650, who mar- 
ried Elizabeth. Sh(f died August 3, 1691. 

John Gowing married Joanna, 1682, and had seven children ; 
John, Thomas, Elizabeth, Samuel, Joanna, Lois, and Timothy. 

Samuel Hart married IMary Witteridge, January 29, 1673, and 
had two children ; John and William. 



1650.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 135 

Thomas Ivory had two sons, Thomas and John. He died July 
18, 1690. 

Daniel King married widow Elizabeth Corwen of Salem. He 
died May 27, 1672. His widow, Elizabeth, died February 26, 
1677. He lived at Swampscot, and bought a large portion of 
Mr. Humfrey's farm. He had two sons ; Daniel married Tabi- 
tha Walker, March 11, 1002. Ptalph married Elizabeth Walker, 
March 2, 1603. 

Thomas Laighton married Sarah — , and had two sons, 1. Thom- 
as, who married Sarah Rednap, December 28, 1670 ; and 2. 
Samuel, who married Sarah Graves, February 14, 1680. 

John Lyscom married Abigail — , and had a son, Samuel ; born 
September 16, 1693. 

Ezekiel Needham married Sarah King, October 27, 1669, and 
had five children ; Edmund, Sarah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Ralph. 

Daniel Needham married Ruth — , 1073, and had five children ; 
Ehzabeth, Edmund, Daniel, Ruth and Mary. 

Thomas Norwood and Mary Brown were married August 24, 
1685, and had six children; Francis, Ebenezer, Mary, Thomas, 
Mary, and Jonathan. 

George Oaks married Jennet — , and had five children ; John, 
born July 31, 1001, Mary, Puchard, Sarah, Elizabeth and 
George. 

John Perkins and Anna Hutchinson were married August 29, 
1695, and had five children ; Anna, John, Elizabeth, Mary, and 
William. 

John Person married Tabitha — , and had eleven children; 
James, born November 28, 1080, Tabilha, John, Rebecca, Kendall, 
Susanna, Mary, Thomas, Ebenezer, Sarah, and Abigail. 

Samuel Penficld married Mary Lewis, November 30, 1675, 
and had two children ; Samuel and Mary. 

John Phillips married Hannah — , and had two children ; John, 
born December 3, 1689; Hannah, born June 6, 1094. He died 
September 29, 1094. He lived at Swam|jscot. 

William Robinson had three sons ; William, born October 7, 
1063, A(iuila, and John. 

Henry Silsbe had three sons ; Jonathan married Bathia Marsh, 
January 1, 1673; Samuel married Mary Bistow, July 4, 1676; 
Henry married Grace Eaton, November 18, 1680. 

Henry Stacy married Hannah, and had five children ; Wil- 
liam, born January 3, 1674; Henry, born April 1, 1677; Sarah, 
born January 3, 1678; Ebenezer, born January 4, 1680; John, 
born October 30, 1682. 

Joshua Wait and Elizabeth Mansfield were married January 
10, 1675, and had two children, Moses and Mary. 

Abraham Wellman married Elizabeth — , and had a son born, 
May 3, 1676. 



136 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1651. 

Domingo Wight, a black man, had three children ; Mary, born 
August 31, 1675; Joseph, born May 23, 1678; Hannah, born 
September 5, 1679. 

1651. Mr. Richard Leader, the agent for the Iron Works, 
was arraigned by the Court, on the seventh of May, for re- 
proaching Governor Endecott, the court, and the church at Lynn. 
In their first excitement, the court fined him two hundred pounds, 
which were afterward reduced to fifty. Mr. Leader made an 
acknowledgment, and the fine was finally remitted. After this, 
Mr. John Gifford appears as agent. He married the widow 
Margaret Temple, and had a son Philip. 

On taking the management of the Iron Works, Mr. Gifford 
raised the dam, which caused the water to overflow six acres of 
' plowland ' belonging to Mr. Adam Hawkes. For this, on the 
twentieth of June, an agreement was made, in which Mr. 
Hawkes was allowed £8 for damages. 

On Sunday, the twentieth of July, three men of the Baptist 
persuasion, whose names were John Clarke, John Crandall, and 
Obadiah Holmes, came from Newport, and went to the house of 
WiUiam Witter, at Swampscot, where Mr. Clark preached, ad- 
ministered the sacrament, and re-baptized Mr. Witter. This 
being reported to the authorities, two constables went down to 
Swampscot to apprehend them as disturbers of the peace. They 
carried a warrant, which had been granted by Hon. Pvobert 
Bridges. ' By virtue hereof, you are required to go to the house 
of William Witter, and so to search from house to house for 
certain erroneous persons, being strangers, and them to appre- 
hend, and in safe custody to keep, and tomorrow morning at 8 
o'clock, to bring before me.' Mr. Clark says, ' while I was yet 
speaking, there comes into the house where we were, two con- 
stables, who with their clamorous tongues make an interruption, 
and more uncivilly disturbed us than the pursuivants of the old 
English bishops were wont to do.' In the afternoon, they were 
taken to Mr. Whiting's meeting, where they refused to uncover 
their heads. Mr. Bridges ordered a constable to take off' then- 
hats, when one of them attempted to speak, but was prevented. 

At the close of the meeting, one of them made some remarks, 
after which they were taken to the Anchor tavern, and guarded 
through the night. In the morning, they were sent to Boston 
and imprisoned. On the thirty-first, the Court of Assistants 
sentenced Mr. Holmes to pay a fine of thirty pounds, Mr. Clark 
of twenty, and Mr Crandall of five. The fines of Clark and 
Crandall were paid ; but INIr. Holmes refused to pay his, or sufl^er 
it to be paid, and was retained in prison till September, when he 
was publicly whipped. When brought to the place of execu- 
tion, he requested liberty to speak to the people, but the presid- 



1651.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 137 

ing officer, one Flint, rightly named, refused, and ordered him to 
be stripped. His friends brought some wine, which they re- 
quested him to drink, but he dechned it, lest the spectators 
should attribute his fortitude to drink. The whip was made of 
three cords, and tlie executioner spat three times in his OAvn 
hands, that he might not fail to honor justice. In a manuscript 
left by Governor Joseph Jenks, it is written that ' Mr. Holmes 
was whipped 30 stripes, and in such an unmerciful manner, that 
for many days, if not some weeks, he could not take rest, but as 
he lay upon his knees and elbows, not being able to suffer any 
part of the body to touch the bed.' As the man began to lay on 
the stripes, Holmes said ' though my flesh should fail, yet my 
God will not fail.' He then prayed, ' Lord lay not this sin to 
their charge.' When he was released, two spectators, John 
Shaw and John Hasel, went up and took hold of his hand to 
sympathize with him, for which they were fined forty shillings 
each. Such is the bitterness of religious persecution. Dr. John 
Clark was one of the most respectable physicians in Rhode 
Island, and wrote a book entitled ' 111 News from New England,' 
with a full account of this persecution. 

Mr. Witter was presented at the Salem court, on the twenty- 
seventh of November, for neglecting discourses and being re- 
baptized. 

On the fourteenth of October, the court made an order against 
' the intolerable excess and bravery ' of dress. They ordered 
that no person whose estate did not exceed £200 should wear 
any great boots, gold or silver lace or buttons, or silk hoods, rib- 
bons or scarfs, under a penalty of ten shillings. 

' In answer to a petition of George Indian at Lynn, This 
Court refers him to bring his action in some inferiour court, 
against any that ungenerously withhold any land from him.' 

The following description of Lynn is from ' The Wonder 
Working Providence,' a work published this year, by Mr. Ed- 
ward Johnson, of Woburn : 

' Her scituation is neere to a Paver, whose strong freshet at 
breaking up of Winter fiUeth all her Bankes, and with a furious 
Torrent ventes itself into the Sea. This Towne is furnished 
with Mineralls of divers kinds, especially Iron and Lead, the 
forme of it is almost square, onely it takes two large a run into 
the Land-ward, (as most townes do.) It is filled with about one 
Hundred Houses for dwelling. There is also an Iron Mill in 
constant use, but as for Lead they have tried but little yet. 
Their meeting house being on a Levell Land undefended from 
the cold North west wind, and therefore made with steps de- 
scending into the earth ; their streets are straite and comly, yet 
but thin of Houses; the people mostly inclining to Husbandry 
18 



138 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1652. 

have built many Farmes Remote. There Cattell exceedingly 
multiplied. Goates which were in great esteeme at theire first 
comming, are now almost quite banished, and now Horse, kine 
and Sheep are most in request with them.' 

In his remarks on manufactures, Mr. Johnson says, ' All other 
trades have fallen into their ranks and places, to their great ad- 
vantage, especially Coopers and Shoemakers, who had either of 
them a corporation granted, inriching themselves by their trades 
very much. As for Tanners and Shoemakers it being natural- 
ized into their occupations to have a higher reach in managing 
these manifactures then other men in New England are, having 
not changed their nature in this, between them both they have 
kept men to their stande hitherto, almost doubling the price of 
their commodities, according to the rate they were sold for in 
England, and yet the plenty of Leather is beyond what they had 
there, counting the number of the people, but the transportation 
of Boots and Shoes into forraign parts hath vented all however.' 

The manufacture of shoes had not, at this time, become a 
principal business at Lynn. A few persons practised the em- 
ployment regularly ; but they traded with merchants at Boston, 
and did not export for themselves. The shoes which they made 
were principally of calf skin, for Morocco had not been intro- 
duced. Cloth was worn only by the most wealthy ; and if a 
lady in the more common ranks of life obtained a pair of stuff 
shoes, to grace the nuptial ceremony, they were afterward laid 
aside, and carefully preserved through life, as something too 
delicate for ordinary use. 

1552. Wenepoykin, the Lynn Sagamore, on the first of 
April, mortgaged ' all that Tract or Neck of Land commonly 
called Nahant,' to Nicholas Davison of Charlestown, ' for twenty 
pounds sterling dew many yeer.' The deed was signed with 
his mark, which has somewhat the form of a capital H in 
writing. 

At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-ninth of June, the fol- 
lowing presentments were made. ' We present Ester, the wife 
of Joseph Jynkes Junior ffor wearing silver lace ; ' and ' Robert 
Surges for bad corne grinding.' Other persons were presented 
for wearing great boots and silk hoods. 

Mr. Gifford this year increased the height of the dam at the 
Iron Works, by which ten acres of Mr. Hawkes's land were 
flowed ; for which he agreed to give 16 loads of hay yearly, and 
200 cords of wood. Afterward he agreed to give him £7, ' which 
ends all, except that 10s. is to be given him yearly.' By this 
agreement the water was to be so kept ' that it may not ascend 
the top of the upper floodgates in the pond higher than within 
a foot and a halfe of the top of the great Rock that lies in the mid- 
dle of the pond before the gates.' 



1653.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 139 

This year a mint was established at Boston for coining silver. 
The pieces had the word Massachusetts, with a pine tree on one 
side ; and the letters N. E. Anno 1652, and III. VI. or XII., de- 
noting the number of pence, on the other. The dies for this 
coinage were made by Joseph Jenks, at the Iron Works. 

1653. On the seventh of March, the boundary line between 
Lynn and Reading was established. 

Samuel Bennet, carpenter, sold his corn mill to Thomas 
Wheeler, on the first of April, for £220. 

This year, Mr. Thomas Savage, of Boston, attached the Iron 
Works, at Lynn, for the amount owed to him and Henry Webb. 
On the fourteenth of September a special court convened at 
Boston, for the trial. Mr. Savage obtained for himself £894 2s., 
and for Henry Webb £1351 6s. 9d. The total account of Mr. 
John Gifford, agent for the company, was £16,284 7s. 4d. 

1654. The selectmen of Boston agreed with Mr. Joseph 
Jenks ' for an Ingine to carry water in case of fire.' This was 
the first Fire Engine made in America. 

In August, the court fixed the prices of grain ; Indian corn at 
3s., rye and peas at 4s., and wheat and barley at 5s. a bushel. 

At a town meeting, on the twenty-eighth of December, a grant 
was made to Mr. Edmund Farrington, allowing him the privi- 
lege to build a grist-mill, in Water Hill street, on condition that 
grain should be seasonably and faithfully ground ; otherwise the 
privilege was to revert to the town. 

1655. This year Edmund Farrington built his mill on Water 
Hill. A pond was dug by hand, and the water brought from the 
old brook, by a little canal about half a mile in length. This mill 
was for many years the property of Benjamin Phillips, and in 
1836 was purchased by Henry A. Breed, who dug out a new 
pond of more than an acre, for a reservoir. 

Mr. John Giflx)rd, agent of the Iron Company, having been 
imprisoned on account of the pecuniary affairs of that establish- 
ment, a petition was sent from London to the General Court, for 
his release. It was dated on the twenty-seventh of February, 
and signed by John Becx, William Greenhill, Thomas Foley, 
and Phebe Frost. 

On the twenty-third of May, the General Court granted to 
Mr. Joseph Jenks a patent for an improved scythe, ' for the more 
speedy cutting of grasse, for seven years.' This improvement 
consisted in lengthening the blade, makijigit thinner, and weld- 
ing a scpiare bar on the back to strengthen it, as in the modern 
scythe. Before this the old English blade was short and thick, 
like a bush scythe. 



HO HISTORY OF LYNN. [1656. 



1656. This year the Rev. Thomas Cobbet relinquished his 
connexion with the church at Lynn, and removed to Ipswich. 
He was born at Newbury, in England, 1608. Though his father 
was poor, he found means to gain admission at the University 
of Oxford, which he left during the great sickness in 1625, and 
became a pupil of Dr. Twiss, in his native town. He was after- 
ward a minister of the established Church. He came to Lynn 
in 1637, and was welcomed by Mr. Whiting, with whom he had 
commenced a friendship in England. Mr. Mather says, ' they 
were almost every day together, and thought it a long day if they 
were not so ; the one rarely travelling abroad without the other.' 
Mr. Cobbet preached at Lynn 19 years, and 29 at Ipswich. In 
1666, he preached the election sermon, from 11. Chronicles, 15, 2. 
He died on Thursday, 5th November, 1685, and was buried on 
the next Monday. At his funeral were expended, one barrel of 
wine, £6 8s. ; two barrels of cider, lis.; 82 pounds of sugar, £2 Is.; 
half a cord of wood, 4s. ; four dozen pair of gloves, ' for men and 
women,' £5 4s. ; with ' some spice and ginger for the cider.' It 
was the custom at funerals to treat all the company with cider, 
which in cold weather was heated and spiced. In the year 1711, 
the town of Lynn paid for ' half a barrel of cider for the widow 
Dispaw's funeral.' Wine was distributed when it could be af- 
forded. Gloves were commonly given to the bearers and prin- 
cipal mourners, and by the more wealthy, rings were sometimes 
added. Mr, Cobbet appears to have been much esteemed. 
The following epitaph to his memory is one of the best of Mr. 
Mather's productions : 

' Sta viator ; thesaurus hie jacet ; 

Thomas Cobbetus ; 

Cujus, nosti preces potentissimas, ac mores probatissimos, 

Si es Nov-Anglus. 

Mirare, si pietatem colas ; 

Sequere, si felicitatem optes.' 

Stop, traveller, a treasure 's buried here ; 
Our Thomas Cobbet claims the tribute tear. 
His prayers were powerful, his manners pure, 
As thou, if of New England's sons, art sure. 
If thou reverest piety, admire ; 
And imitate, if bliss be thy desire. 

Mr. Cobbet possessed good learning and abilities, and wrote 
more books than any one of the early ministers of New England. 
Among his works, were the following : 

1. A Treatise Asserting the Right of the Magistrates to a 
Negative Vote on the Resolves of the Representatives. 1613. 

2. A Defence of Infant Baptism. 1645. This is said to have 
been an admirable summary of the principal arguments for and 



165G.] H I S T O R y O K L Y N N . 141 

against the subject, and an able exposition of the error of those 
who deny the vahdity of this important rite. 

3. The Civil Magistrate's Power in Matters of Religion, 
Modestly Debated, with a Brief Answer to a certain slanderous 
pamphlet, called 111 News from New England ; containing six 
pages of grievous dedication to Oliver Cromwell. 1653. 

4. A Practical Discourse on Prayer. 1654. Mr. Mather re- 
marks that, ' of all the books written by Mr. Cobbet, none de- 
serves more to be read by the world, or to live till the general 
burning of the Avorld, than that of Prayer.' 

5. A Fruitful and Useful Discourse, touching the Honor due 
from Children to their Parents, and the Duty of Parents toward 
their Children. London, 1656. 

6. A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Order and Discipline. 

7. A Treatise on the First, Second, and Fifth Commandments. 
The following beautiful picture of the enduring affection of a 

mother, is from the discourse on the duties of children. 

' Despise not thy mother when she is old. When she was 
young, yea, when she was middle aged, thou prisedst, and re- 
spectedst, and did reverence and obey her ; do it as well when 
she is old ; hold on doing of it to the last. Age may wear and 
waste a mother's beauty, strength, parts, limbs, senses, and es- 
tate ; but her relation of a mother is as the sun when he goeth 
forth in his might, for the ever of this life, that is, always in its 
meridian, and knoweth no evening. The person may be gray- 
headed, but her motherly relation is ever in its flourish. It may 
be autumn, yea winter, with the woman ; but with the mother, 
as a mother, it is always spring.' 

In descanting on the duties of children, he says ; ' How tender 
were your parents of their dealings with men, to discharge a 
good conscience therein ; of their very outward garb, what they 
ware, and of what fashion, and the like ; but you their children 
regard not what you do, nor how you deal with others, nor what 
you wear, nor of what fashion, so the newest. Did ever your 
good father or grandfather wear such ruffianly hair upon their 
heads ? or did your godly parents frisk from one new fangled 
fashion to another, as you do ? ' 

The following anecdote is related by Mr. Mather. ' The un- 
grateful inhabitants of Lynn one year passed a town vote, that 
they could not allow their ministers a1)ove thirty pounds apiece 
that year, for their salary ; and behold, the ( Jod who will not be 
mocked, immediately caused the town to lose three hundred 
pounds in that one specie of their cattle, by one disaster.' With 
his characteristic carelessness, Mr. Mather does not give any 
date to this fact. 

Mr. Cobbet was much respected for his piety and the fervency 
of his prayers. One of the soldiers in Philip's war, whose name 



142 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1656, 

was Luke Perkins, says, that when he was detached, in 1675, 
to go against the Indians, he went to request the prayers of Mr. 
Cobbet, Avho prayed that the company might be preserved, and 
they all returned in safety. 

Some women of his neighborhood were one day attempting 
some trick of witchery, when their minister appeared. ' There,' 
said one of them ' we can do no more ; there is old crooked back 
Cobbet a coming.' 

For a considerable time, he was in the practice of walking 
from Ipswich to Boston, once in two weeks, to attend Mr. Nor- 
ton's lecture, and to see his old friend, Mr. Whiting. He used 
to remark, that it was worth a journey to Boston, ' to hear one of 
Mr. Norton's good prayers.' 

The parents of Mr. Cobbet came over some time after his arri- 
val. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and he had four 
sons; Samuel, who graduated in 1663; Thomas, John, and 
Eliezer. 

Thomas Cobbet, Jr., who was a seaman at Portsmouth, was 
taken prisoner by the Indians in 1676, and carried to Penobscot. 
After an absence of several weeks, he was released by Madock- 
awando, the sachem, who received a red coat as a present. On 
this subject, Mr. Cobbet thus writes, in his letter to Increase 
Mather : ' As to what you querie, whether there were not an- 
swers of prayer respecting my captured son, Surely I may truly 
say his wonderfall preservations in all that 9 weeks time after he 
was taken, and deliverance at the last, they will be put on that 
account as answers of prayer ; for he was constantly pleaded for 
by Mr. Moody in his congregation for that end, from his being 
first taken (of which they first heard) till his redemption. So 
was he in like sort pleaded for by Mr. Shepard in his congrega- 
tion at Charlestowne, and by my desire signified that way, by 
Mr. Philips, Mr. Higginson, Mr. Buckley, in theyr congregations, 
and I doubt not by yourself, Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Allin, in the 3 
Boston churches, besides the prayers going constantly that way 
for him in the families and closets of godly ones, which heard of 
his captivity and hazard. He was constantly, as there was cause, 
remembered in our congregation for that end, and which I may 
not omit to mention: When Mr. Moody, by a post sent hither, 
sent me the first news of his taking by the Indians, and their 
further rage in those parts, calling out for further prayers — I 
presently caused one of our Deacons to call to my house that very 
day, as many godly men and theyr wives as were near us, to 
spend some hours in prayer about the same: about 30 met, sev- 
eral of them prayed, Capt. Lord was with them in it, and with 
me also, who began and ended that service ; and having beg'd 
some amends of our wasted son Eliezer at home as a pledge of 
the desired mercies to our captived son abroad as granted, my 



1656.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 143 

heart I must acknowledge to the Lord's praise, was sweetly- 
guided in the course of that service, and I was even persuaded 
that the Lord had heard our prayers in that respect, and could 
not but express as much to some of our godly friends ; so was 
one of our sisters, (as since she informed my wife,) as confident- 
ly persuaded that she should ere long see him returned, and 
that in comfortable plight, as if he were already come.' He says 
that his son Eliezer began to amend, 'insomuch that he who 
before could not walk up and down the town without stagering, 
could yet walk up that high hill (which you know of,) that is by 
Mr. Norton's, now our house.' 

The great age to which many of the early settlers lived, is a 
subject worthy of notice. Boniface Burton died in 1669, at the 
great age of 113 years; an age to which no person in Lynn, 
since his time, has attained. Joseph Rednap lived till he was 
110 years of age, in the full possession of his faculties. In the 
year 16.35, when he was in his SOth year, we find a vote of the 
town granting him lands at Nahant, for the purpose of pursuing 
the trade of fishing ; and he seems as enterprising at that age 
as if he were just beginning active life. Henry Styche was an 
efficient workman at the iron foundry in the year 1653, and was 
then 103 years of age. How many years longer he lived, his- 
tory has not informed us. Christopher Hussey was pursuing 
his active and useful life, in 1685, when he was shipwrecked 
on the coast of Florida, at the age of 87 years. This great lon- 
gevity and good health of the early settlers, may probably be 
referred to the regularity of their habits, and the simplicity of 
their diet. They seldom ate meat, and they generally retired to 
rest soon after sunset. A pitch pine torch in the chimney cor- 
ner, served to illuminate the common room, until the family 
prayer was said ; and then the boys and girls retired to their re- 
spective chambers, to undress in the dark. Nor did they steam 
themselves to death over hot iron. Cook stoves were unknown, 
and no fire was put into a meeting house, except the Quaker, 
until 1820. 




CHAPTER VIL 

Thomas Dexter claims Nahant — Pirate's Glen — Iron Company prosecuted — 
Hathorne's case of Slander — Order respecting Shoes — Wampanoag War — 
Wenepoykin dies — Life of Rev. Stephen Whiting — Petition of soldiers in the 
Indian War — 1657 to 16S7. 

Thus he hath lost his lande soe broad 

Both hill and holt and moor and fenne, 
All but a poore and lonesome lodge 

That stood far off in a lonely glenne. 

Heike of Lysnk. 

AVING purchased Nahant of the Li- 
dian Sagamore for a suit of clothes, 
Thomas Dexter was not disposed to sit 
down in unconcern, when the town 
made known their intention of dividing 
it into lots for the benefit of all the peo- 
^Jl^l' pie. At a town meeting held on Feb- 
ruary 21, 16-57, the following order was taken: 'It was voted 
that Nahant should be laid out in planting lotts, and every house- 
holder should have equal in the dividing of it, noe man more 
than another ; and every person to clear his lot of wood in six 
years, and he or they that do not clear their lotts of the wood, 
shall pay fifty shillings for the towne's use. Alsoe every house- 
holder is to have his and their lotts for seaven years, and it is to 
be laid down for a pasture for the towne ; and in the seventh' 
every one that hath improved his lott by planting, shall then, 
that is in the seventh year, sow their lott with English corne ; 
and in every acre of land as they improve, they shall, with their 
English corne, sow one bushel of English hay seed, and soe 
proportionable to all the land that is improved, a bushel of hay 
seed to one acre of land, and it is to be remembered, that no 
person is to raise any kind of building at all ; and for laying out 
this land there is chosen, Francis Ingals, Henry Collins, James 
Axee, Adam Hawckes, Lieut. Thomas Marshall, John Hathorne, 
Andrew Mansfield.' — Mass. Archives. 

This record is valuable, as it exhibits several interesting par- 
ticulars. It shows that the purchase of Nahant by Mr. Dexter 
was not considered valid — it exhibits the most impartial speci- 
men of practical democracy in this country, the lots being 



1657.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 145 

apportioned to each householder equally, ' noe man more than 
another ' — it furnishes an explanation of the cause and manner 
of Nahant heing so entirely cleared of the beautiful wood which 
once grew upon it — and it shows that Nahant was early planted 
with English corn, that is, with wheat. On the passing of this 
order, Mr. Dexter commenced a suit against the town for occu- 
pying it. The people held a town meeting, in which they 
appointed Thomas Laighton, George Keysar, Robert Coats, and 
Joseph Armitage, a committee to defend their right. On the 
third of June, the following depositions were given. 

1. ' Edward Ireson, aged 57 yeares or there abouts, sworne, 
saith, that liveing with Mr. Thomas Dexter, I carried the fenc- 
ing stufTe which -master Dexter sett up to fence in Nahant, his 
part Avith the rest of the Inhabitants, and being and living with 
mr Dexter, I never heard him say a word of his buying of 
Nahant, but only his interest in Nahant for his fencing with the 
rest of the inhabitants, this was about 25 yeares since, and after 
this fence was sett up at nahant, all the new comers were to 
give two shillings sixpence a head or a piece vnto the setters 
up of the fence or inhabitants, and some of Salem brought 
Cattell alsoe to nahant, which were to give soe.' 

2. ' The Testimony of Samuel Whiting, senior: of the 
Towns of Linne, Saith, that Mr. Humphries did desire that mr 
Eaton and his company might not only buy Nahant, but the 
whole Towne of Linne. and that mr Cobbet and he and others 
of the Towne went to mr Eaton to offer both to him, and to 
commit themselves to the providence of God, and at that time 
there was none that laid claim to or pleaded any interest in 
nahant. Save the town, and at that time farmer Dexter lived 
in the Towne of Linne.' The person to whom Lynn was thus 
offered for sale, was Theophilus Eaton, afterward governor of 
Connecticut. He came to Boston June 26, 1637, and went to 
New Haven in August of the same year. 

3. ' The Deposition of Daniel Salmon, aged about 45 yeares, 
saith, that he being master Humphreye's servant, and about 23 
yeares agon, there being wolves in nahant, commanded that the 
whole traine band to goe drive them out, because it did belong 
to the whole towne, and farmer Dextcr's men being then at 
training, went with the rest.' 

4. ' This I Joseph Armitage, aged 57 or there abouts, doe 
testifie, that about fifteen or sixteen yeares agoe, wee had a 
generall towne meeting in Lin, at that meeting there was much, 
discourse about nahant, the men that did first fence at nahant 
and by an act of generall court did apprehend by fencing that 
nahant was theires, myself by purchase haveing a part therein, 
after much agitation in the meeting, and by persuasion of mr 
Cobbitt, they that then did plead a right by fencinsr, did yield 

19 



146 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1658. 

up all their right freely to the Inhabitants of the Towne, of 
which Tliomas Dexter, senior, was one.' 

5. ' We, George Sagomore and the Sagomore of Agawam, 
doe testify that Duke William so called did sell all Nahant unto 
ffarmer Dexter for a suite of Cloathes, which cloathes ffarmer 
Dexter had again, and gave vnto Duke William so called 2 or 
3 coates for it again.' This deposition was signed with an S, 
as the mark of Masconomotd ; and with a bow and arrow, as 
the mark of Winnepurkitt. 

6. ' This, I Christopher Linsie doe testifie ; that Thomas 
Dexter bought Nahant of Blacke Will, or Duke William, and 
employed me to fence part of it, when I lived with Thomas 
Dexter.' 

7. ' I John Legg, aged 47 years or thereabouts, doe testifie, 
that when I was Mr. Humphrey's servant, there came unto my 
master's house one Blacke Will, as wee call him, an Indian, with 
a compleate Suit on his backe, I asked him where he had that 
suit, he said he had it of ffarmer Dexter, and he had sould him 
Nahant for it.' 

Other depositions were given by Richard Walker, Edward 
Ilolyoke, George Farr, William Dixey, William Witter, John 
Ramsdell, John Hedge, and William Hardier. The court 
decided in favor of the defendants, and Mr. Dexter appealed to 
the Court of Assistants, who confirmed the judgment. Mr. 
Dexter was afterward granted liberty to tap the pitch pine trees 
on Nahant, as he had done before, for the purpose of making 
tar. 

A vessel owned by Captain Thomas Wiggin of Portsmouth 
was wrecked on the Long Beach, and the sails, masts, anchor, 
&c., purchased by Thomas Wheeler, on the third of June. 

Sagamore Wenepoykin petitioned the General Court, on the 
twenty-first of May, that he might possess some land, formerly 
owned by his brother, called Powder Horn Hill, in Chelsea. He 
was referred to the County Court. 

1658. At the court of Assistants on the thirteenth of May, 
the towns of Lynn, Reading, and Chelsea, received permission 
to raise a troop of horse. 

At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-ninth of June, Lieu- 
tenant Thomas Marshall was authorized to perform the ceremony 
of marriage, and to take testimony in civil cases. 

This year there was a great earthquake in New England, 
connected with which is the following story. 

Some time previous, on one pleasant evening, a little after 
sunset, a small vessel was seen to anchor near the mouth of 
Saugus river. A boat was presently lowered from her side, into 
which four men descended, and moved up the river a considera- 



1658.] HISTORY OF I. i'NN. 147 

ble distance, when lliey landed, and proceeded directly into the 
woods. They had. been noticed by only a few individuals ; but 
in those early times, when the people were surrounded by dan- 
ger, and easily susceptible of alarm, such an incident was well 
calculated to awaken suspicion, and in the course of the evening 
the intelligence was conveyed to many houses. In the morning, 
the people naturally directed their eyes toward the shore, in 
search of the strange vessel — but she was gone, and no trace 
could be found either of her or her singular crew. It was after- 
ward ascertained that, on that morning, one of the men at the Iron 
Works, on going into the foundry, discovered a paper, on which 
was written, that if a quantity of shackles, handcuffs, hatchets, 
and other articles of iron manufacture, were made and deposited, 
with secrecy, in a certain place in the woods, which was partic- 
ularly designated, an amount of silver, to their full value, would 
be found in their place. The articles were made in a few days, 
and placed in conformity with the directions. On the next 
morning they were gone, and the money was found according 
to the promise ; but though a watch had been kept, no vessel 
was seen. Some months afterward, the four men returned, and 
selected one of the most secluded and romantic spots in the 
woods of Saugus, for their abode. The place of their retreat 
was a deep narrow valley, shut in on two sides by high hills and 
craggy precipitous rocks, and shrouded on the others by thick 
pines, hemlocks, and cedars, between which there was only one 
small spot to which the rays of the sun at noon could penetrate. 
On climbing up the rude and almost perpendicular steps of the 
rock on the eastern side, the eye could command a full view of 
the bay on the south, and a prospect of a considerable portion of 
the surrounding country. The place of their retreat has ever 
since been called the Pirates' Glen, and they could not have 
selected a spot on the coast for many miles, more favorable for 
the purposes both of concealment and observation. Even at 
this day, when the neighborhood has become thickly peopled, it 
is still a lonely and desolate place, and probably not one in a 
hundred of the inhabitants has ever descended into its silent and 
gloomy recess. There the pirates built a small hut, made a 
garden, and dug a well, the appearance of which is still visible. 
It has been supposed that they buried money ; but though peo- 
have dug there, and in several other places, none has ever been 
found. After residing there some time, their retreat became 
known, and one of the king's cruisers appeared on the coast. 
They were traced to their glen, and three of them were taken 
and carried to England, where it is probable they were executed. 
The other, Avhose name was Thomas Veal, escaped to a rock 
in the woods, about two miles to the north, in which was a 
spacious cavern, where the pirates had previously deposited 



148 H I S T O R Y O I- L Y N N . [1 659. 

some of their plunder. There the fugitive fixed his residence, 
and practised the trade of a shoemaker, occasionally coming 
down to the village to obtain articles of sustenance. He con- 
tinued his residence till the great earthquake this year, when 
the top of the rock was loosened, and crushed down into the 
mouth of the cavern, enclosing the unfortunate inmate in its 
unyielding prison. It has ever since been called the Pirate's 
Dungeon. 

1659. A road was laid out from Lynn to Marblehead, over 
the Swampscot beaches, on the fifth of July. In reference to 
the part between Broadway and King's Beach, the Committee 
say, ' it has been a country highway thirty and odd years, to the 
knowledge of many of us.' 

At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-ninth of November, 
' Thomas Marshall, of Lynn, is alowed by this court, to sell 
stronge water to trauillers, and also other meet provisions.' 

The General Court had passed some very severe laws against 
the people called Friends or Quakers, forbidding any even to 
admit them into their houses, under a penalty of forty shillings 
an hour. Mr. Zacheus Gould had offended against this order, 
for which he was arraigned by the court. On the 25th of No- 
vember, ' The deputies having heard of what Zacheus Gould 
hath alleged in Court, in reference to his entertainment of 
Quakers, do think it meet that the rigor of the law, in that case 
provided, be exercised upon him, but considering his ingenious 
confession, and profession of his ignorance of the law ; and he 
also having long attended the Court, do judge that he shall only 
be admonished for his offence by the governor, and so be dis- 
missed the court, and all with reference to the consent of om* 
honored magistrates hereto.' This decision of the deputies was 
sent to the magistrates, and returned with this endorsement : 
' The magistrates consent not thereto.' So it is probable that Mr. 
Gould was compelled to pay his fine. 

The court this year enacted that the festival of Christmas 
should not be observed, under a penalty of five shillings. 

1660. Mr. Adam Hawkes commenced a suit, in June, against 
Oliver Purchis, agent for the Iron Company, for damage by over- 
flowing his land. The following papers relating to this subject, 
were found in the files of the Quarterly Court. 

' The deposition of Joseph Jenks, senior, saith, that having 
conference with adam hawkes about the great dam at the Iron 
Avorks at Lin, he complayned that he suffered great damage by 
the water flowing his ground. I answered him, I thought you 
had satisfaction for all from the old companie, he said he had 
from the old company, and further saith not' 



1661.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N. 149 

' This, I Charles Phillopes do testilie, that I, keepeing of the 
watter at the Irone Workes, since Mr. Porchas came there, Mr. 
Porchas did att all times charge me to keepe the watter Lowe, 
that it might not damage Mr. Hawkes, which I did, and had 
much ill will of the workmen for the same.' 

Others testified that the lands had been much overflowed. 
Francis Hutchinson said, that the water had been raised so 
high, that the bridge before Mr. Hawkes' house had several 
times been broken up, and ' the peces of tember raised up and. 
Made Sweme.' John Knight and Thomas Wellman were ap- 
pointed to ascertain the damage. They stated that the corn had 
been ' Much Spoilled,' and the wells 'sometimes ffloted;' that 
the English grass had been much damaged, and the tobacco 
lands much injured, ' in laying them so Coulld.' They judged 
the damage to be ' the ualloation of ten pounds a yeere.' 

1661. ' At a Generall Towne Meetinge, the 30th of Decem- 
ber, 1661, vpon the request of Daniell Salmon for some land, in 
regard he was a soldier att the Pequid warrs, and it was order- 
ed by vote that Ensign John fTuUer, Allen Breed, senior, and 
Richard Johnson, should vew the land adjoyninge to his house 
lott, and to giue report of it vnto the next towne meetinge.' 

1662. Mr. William Longley prosecuted the town, for not 
laying out to him forty acres of land, according to the division of 
1638. The case was defended by John Hathorne and Henry 
Collins. In March, the Court decided that he should have the 
forty acres of land or forty pounds in money. 

On the thirteenth of May, the boundary line between Lynn 
and Boston was marked. It ran ' from the middle of Bride's 
brooke, where the foot path now goeth.' This line has since 
become the boundary between Saugus and Chelsea. 

For the first time since the organization of the general gov- 
ernment in 1631, the town of Lynn sent no representative. 

1663. On the evening of January twenty-sixth, there was 
an earthquake. 

Mr. John Hathorne complained to the church at Lynn, that 
Andrew Mansfield and William Longley had given false testi- 
mony in the recent land case, for which they were censured. 
They appealed to the county court, accusing Mr. Hathorne of 
slander, of which he was found guilty, and sentenced to pay a 
fine of £10, and make a public acknowledgment in the meet- 
ing-house at Lynn ; or else to pay £20 and costs. On the fourth 
of April, the court directed the following letter to the church at 
Lynn. 

' Reverend and loving friends and brethren : We understand 



150 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1663. 

that John Hathorne hath accused Andrew Mansfield and William 
Longley in the church of Lynn, for giving a false testimony against 
himself and Henry Collins, at the court of Ipswich, in March this 
was 12 month, and for which the said Mansfield and Longley 
stand convicted in the church, and finding themselves aggrieved 
thereat, hath brought their complaint against the said Hathorne 
in several actions of slander, which hath had a full and impartial 
hearing, and due examination, and by the verdict of the jury the 
said Hathorne is found guilty. Now because it is much to be 
desired that contrary judgments in one and the same case may 
be prevented, if possibly it may be attained, and one power 
strive not to clash against the other, we thought it expedient, 
before we give judgment in the case, to commend the same to 
the serious consideration and further examination of the church. 
We doubt not but that there hath been even more than a few 
both in the words and carriage of all the parties concerned, 
(though not the crime alleged), which if it may please God to 
put into their hearts to see and own so as may give the church 
opportunity and cause to change their mind and reverse their 
censures, so far as concerns the particular case in question, we 
hope it will be acceptable to God, satisfactory to ourselves and 
others, and the beginning of their own peace and quiet, the dis- 
turbance whereof hitherto we are very sensible of, and shall at 
all times be ready to afford them our best relief, as we may have 
opportunity or cognizance thereof Had you been pleased, be- 
fore your final conclusion, to have given us the grounds of your 
offence, we should kindly have resented such a request, and 
probably much of your trouble might have been prevented. We 
have deferred giving judgment in this case till the next session 
of this Court, to see what effect this our motion may have with 
them. Now the God of peace and wisdom give them under- 
standing in all things, and guide them to such conclusions, in 
this and all other causes of concernment, as may be agreeable 
to his will, and conducing to your peace and welfare. So prays 
your friends and brethren. 

By order of the County Court at Ipswich, 

Robert Lord, Clerk. 

To this letter Mr. Whiting made the following reply, on the 
fourth of May. 

' Honored and beloved in the God of love : We have received 
your letter, which you have been pleased to send to us, wherein 
we perceive how tender you are of our peace and how wisely 
careful you declare yourselves to be in preventing any clash that 
might arise between the civil and ecclesiastical powers, for 
which we desire to return thanks from our hearts to God and 
unto you concerning the matter you signify to us ; what your 



1663.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 151 

pleasure is that we should attend unto, we in all humility of 
mind and desirous of peace, have been willing to prove the 
parties concerned, to see what errors they would see and own ; 
and for his part that complained to us, he doth acknowledge his 
uncomely speeches and carriage both unto the marshal, he being 
the court's officer, and also to brethren in the church, in the 
agitation of the matter, and doth condemn himself for sin in it, 
but for the other parties that stand convicted, they either do not 
see or will not acknowledge any error concerning their testi- 
mony, which we judge they ought. Wherefore we humbly 
present you with these few lines ; not doubting but they will be 
pleasing to God and acceptable to you, whatever hath been 
suggested to yourselves by others that bear not good will to the 
peace of our church ; we are sure of this, and our consciences 
bear us witness, that we have done nothing in opposition to you, 
or to cast any reflection upon your court proceedings, but have 
justified you all along in what you had done, Secundum Allegata 
et probata;* in all our church agitations, which our adversaries 
can tell, if they would witness ; but by reason of this, that some 
of our brethren did swear contrary oaths, we thought it our duty 
\ipon complaint made to us to search who they were that swore 
truly and who did falsifie their oath, and after much debate and 
dispute on Sunday days about this matter, we did judge those 
two men faulty, which in conscience we dare not go back from, 
they continuing as they do to this day. Could we discern any 
token of these men's repentance, for this that they are, especially 
one of them, censured in the church for, we should cheerfully 
take off the censures; but inasmuch as they justify themselves, 
and tell us if it were to do again they would do it, and lift up 
their crests in high language and come to such animosities from 
the jury's verdict, we desire the honored court would not count 
us transgressors if we do not recede from what we have done. 
Especially considering what disturbers they have been to us ; 
especially one of them, for these several years. Now, there- 
fore, honored and dear sirs, seeing by what we have done 
we have gone in our own way as a church in tlie search after 
sin, we hope the court will be tender of us and of him that com- 
plained to us on that account, and if we humbly crave that it be 
not grievous to you that we humbly tell you that in our judg- 
ment the discipline of these chiu'ches must fall ; and if so, of 
what sad consequence it will be we leave it to those that are 
wiser than ourselves to judge, for this case being new and never 
acted before in this country, doth not only reflect on our church 
but on all the churches in the country ; for if delinquents that 
are censured in churches, shall be countenanced by authority, 

* According as they were alleged and proved. 



152 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1664. 

against the church in their acting in a just way, we humbly put 
it to the consideration of the court, whether there will not be a 
wide door opened to Erastimmismc* which we hope all of us do 
abhor from our hearts. Now the God of peace himself give the 
country, courts and church peace always by all means ; grace 
be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

'Dated the 4th, 3d, 1663, with the consent and vote of the 
church. Samuel Whiting.' 

On the next day, the Court replied as follows : 

' Reverend and beloved. We are very sorry our endeavors 
have not produced that effect we hoped and desired, but seem 
to have been interpreted contrary to our intentions, (and, we 
conceive, our words,) as an encroachment and destructive to the 
right and power of the churches. We have been taught, and 
do verily believe, the civil and ecclesiastical power may veiy 
well consist, and that no cause is so purely ecclesiastical, but the 
civil power may in its way deal therein. We are far from think- 
ing the churches have no power but what is derived from the 
christian magistrates, or that the civil magistrate hath ecclesias- 
tical powers, yet may, and ought, the matter so requiring, take 
cognizance and give judgment in solving a case, not in a church 
but civil way. We suppose we have kept much within these 
bounds in the case that hath been before us, and that our opin- 
ion and practice herein hath been as clear from Erastianisme, as 
some men's assertions have been from the opposite error, and 
the declared judgments of our congregational divines. In that 
point, we own and desire so to regulate our proceedings accord- 
ingly. The God of order guide all our ministrations to his glory, 
and the peace and edification of his people. 

' By order and unanimous consent of the County Court, sitting 
at Ipswich, May 5th, 1663, p. me. 

' Robert Lord, Clerk.' 

1664. On the twenty-eighth of June, Theophilus Bayley was 
hcensed to keep a public house. t 

This year the wheat is first mentioned to have been blasted, t 
and little has been raised on the sea-coast of New England 
since. 

A public fast Avas appointed on account of dissensions and 
troubles. 

In November, a comet appeared, and continued visible till 
February. 

* Thomas ErastuS; in 1617, during the civil wars in England, contended that the 
Church had no power to censure or decree. This opinion was termed Erastianism. 
t Q C. Files. I Hubbard. 



1665.] H I S T O R Y F L Y N N . 153 

1665 On llie twenty -seventh of June, Thomas Laighton, 
Oliver P'urchis, and John Fuller, were appointed commissioners 

to trv small causes. , . t i t i 

oil the twenty-ninth of November, Mr. Joseph Jenks was 
admonished by the Salem Court, for not attendmg public 
worship. 

1666 Mr Andrew Mansfield was chosen Town Recorder 
On the seventh of December, the General Court assembled 

for religious consultation and prayer, in which Mr. Whitmg and 
Mr. Cobbet sustained a part. 

1667. At the Quarterly Court, on the twenty-sixth of June, 
Nathaniel Kertland, John Witt, and Ephraim Hah, were pre- 
sented, ' for prophainmg the Lord's Day By Going to William 
Craft's house, in time of publike exercise, (they both being at 
meetino-,) and Drinkeing of his sider, and Rostemg his Aples, 
without eyther the consent or knowledge of him or his wiie. 
' Mr Joseph Jenks presented a petition to the General Court 
for aid to commence a wire manufactory, but did not receive 
sufficient encouragement. 

1668 The ministers of the several towns assembled in 
Boston, on the fifteenth of April, to hold a public disputation 
with the Baptists. Mr. Whiting and Mr. Cobbet were among 
the principal. „ ^ , 

On the thirteenth of June, Robert Page of Boston was pre- 
sented, 'for setinge saille from Nahant, m his boate, bemg 
Loaden with wood, thereby Profaining the Lord's daye. 

Land on the north side of the Common was this year sold for 
£4 an acre ; and good salt marsh, £110. 

1669 On the twenty-ninth of April, the boundary line 
between Lynn and Salem was defined. It ran from the west 
end of Brown's pond, in Danvers, ' to a noated Spring, now 
called Mineral Spring; thence to ' Chip Bridge, on Ije h tie 
brook which runs out near the house of John Phillips, and through 
the house of Daniel King, senior, to the sea-shore. 

1670. The Court ordered, that the lands of deceased per- 
sons might be sold for the payment of their debts Before this 
ifa person died in debt, his land was secure. 1 he method of 
conveyance was by ' turfe and twig;' that is, the seller gave a 
turf from the ground, and a twig from a tree, into the hands of 
the buyer, as a token of relinquishment. 
20 



154 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1G71. 



1671. On the eighteenth of January, there was a great 
snow storm, in which there was much thunder and Hghtning. 

The following memorandum is copied from the leaf of a Bible. 
May 22. ' A very awful thunder, and a very great storm of wind 
and hail, especially at Dorchester town, so that it broke many 
glass windows at the meeting-house.' 

Mr. Samuel Bennett prosecuted Mr. John GifFord, the former 
agent of the Iron Works, and attached property to the amount 
of £400, for labor performed for he company. On the twenty- 
seventh of June, the following testimony was given. 

' John Paule, aged about forty-five years, sworne, saith, that 
living with Mr. Samuel Bennett, upon or about the time that 
the Iron Works were seased by Capt. Savage, in the year 53 as 
I take it, for I lived ther several years, and my constant imploy- 
ment was to repaire carts, coale carts, mine carts, and other 
working materials for his teenies, for he keept 4 or 5 teenies, 
and sometimes 6 teenies, and he had the most teeraes the last 
yeare of the Iron Works, when they were seased, and my mas- 
ter Bennet did yearly yearne a vast sum from the said Iron 
Works, for he commonly yearned forty or fifty shilling a daye 
for the former time, and the year 53, as aforesaid, for he had five 
or six teenies goeing generally every faire day.' * 

The Iron Works for several years were carried on with vigor, 
and furnished most of the iron used in the colony. But the want 
of ready money on the part of the purchasers, and the great 
freedom with which the company construed the liberal privileges 
of the court, caused their failure. The owners of the lands 
which had been injured, commenced several suits against them, 
and at last hired a person to cut away the flood gates and de- 
stroy the works. This was done in the night, when the pond 
was full. The dam was high, and just below it, on the left, 
stood the house of Mac Galium More Downing. The water 
rushed out, and flowed into the house, without disturbing the 
inhabitants, who were asleep in a chamber. In the morning, 
Mrs. Downing found a fine live fish flouncing in her oven. The 
works were much injured, and the depredator fled to Penobscot. 

The suits against the Iron Works were protracted for more 
than twenty years. Mr. Hubbard says ' that instead of drawing 
out bars of iron for the country's use, there was hammered out 
nothing but contention and law suits.' The works were con- 
tinued, though on a smaller scale, for more than one hundred 
years from their establishment. But they have long been dis- 
continued, and nothing now is to be seen of them, except the 
heaps of scoria, nearly overgrown with grass, and called the 
' Cinder Banks.' 

* Salem Q. C. Files. 



1672.1 HISTORV OF LYNN. 155 



1672. Mr. Daniel Salmon attached the property of the town, 
to the value of forty pounds, for not laying out the land granted 
to him in 1661. On the twenty-seventh of June, the Quarterly 
Court required the town to give him about six acres, near his 
house. 

1673. On the eighteenth of June, a new road was laid out 
from Lynn to Marblehead, on the north of the former road. It 
is now called Essex Street. 

The second inhabitant of Nahant, of whom we find any men- 
tion, was Ptobert Coats. He probably lived there as a fisherman 
and shepherd ; and left before he married Mary Hodgkin, which 
was December 29, 16S2. He had six sons and three daughters. 
After he left, there appears no inhabitant until 1690. 

1674. Some of the inhabitants of Salem attempted to form 
a new church, and engaged Mr. Charles Nicholet for their min- 
ister; but their design being opposed, they came to Lynn to 
complete it. Mr. Rogers, Minister of Ipswich, wrote a letter to 
Mr. Phillips, Minister of Pvowley, requesting him to assist in 
preventing the accomplishment. This letter was handed to Ma- 
jor Dennison, who subjoined the following approbation. ' Sir, 
Though I know nothing of what is above written, I cannot but 
approve the same in all respects.' On Sunday, the eleventh of 
December, the delegates from the churches of Boston, Woburn, 
Maiden, and Lynn, with the governor, John Leverett, assembled 
at Lynn, and formed a council. They chose the Rev. John 
Oxenbridge, of Boston, moderator, and agreed that the new 
church sliould be formed. Afterward, the delegates of the 
churches of Salem, Ipswich, and Rowley, arrived ; when the 
vote of the council was reconsidered, and decided in the nega- 
tive. In the curious church records of Rowley, it is said that 
' This work was begun without a sermon, which is not usuall. 
There was also a breaking out into laughter, by a great part of 
the congregation, at a speech of Mr. Batters, that he did not 
approve of what Major Hathornc had spoken. Such carriage 
was never known on a first day, that I knoAv of After the 
frustration of this design, Mr. Nicholet went to England. 

1675. This year we find mention made, in the records of 
the Society of Friends, of the suflerings of that people, in con- 
sequence of their refusal to pay parish taxes. In reference to 
George Oaks, who apj^cars to be one of the first who embraced 
the doctrines of George Fox in Lynn, is the following record. 
' Taken away for the priest, Saumcl Whiting, one cow, valued 
at £3.' Others afterward suflered, for refusing to perform mil- 



156 H I S T O 11 y O F L Y N N . [ 1 675. 

itary duty, or to pay cliiircli rales, by having their cattle, corn, 
hay, and domestic furniture taken away. 

On the twenty-ninth of August, there was 'a very great wind 
and rain, that blew down and twisted many trees.' — Bible leaf. 

The year 1075 is memorable for the commencement of the 
great war of Pometacom, called king Philip, Sachem of the 
Wampanoag Indians, in Plymouth county and Rhode Island, 
just one hundred years before the war of the Lidependence of 
the United Slates. Pometacom was a son of Massasoit, but was 
more warlike than his father. Perhaps he had more cause to be 
so. As we have received the history of this war only from the 
pens of white men, it is probable that some incidents which 
might serve to illustrate its origin, have been passed iinnoticed. 
It commenced in June, and some of the eastern tribes united 
with the Wampanoags. One of the causes of their oflence, was 
an outrage ofiered by some sailors to the wife and child of 
Squando, Sagamore of Saco. Meeting them in a canoe, and 
having heard that young Indians could swim naturally, they 
overturned the frail bark. The insulted mother dived and 
brought up her child, but it died soon after. 

The military company in Lynn, at this time, was commanded 
by Captain Thomas Marshall, Lieutenant Oliver Purchis, and 
Ensign John Fuller. The troops Irom Massachusetts, which 
went against the Indians, were commanded ■by Major Samuel 
Appleton. 

Fifteen men were impressed at Lynn, by order of the Court, 
on the thirtieth of November, in addition to those who had 
been previously detached. Their names were Thomas Baker, 
Robert Driver, Job Farrington, Samuel Graves, Isaac Hart, 
Nicholas Kitchens, Daniel Hitchens, John Lindsey, Jonathan 
Locke, Charles Phillips, Samuel Rhodes, Henry Stacey, Sam- 
uel Tarbox, Andrew Townsend, and Isaac Wellman. 

On the nineteenth of December, says the Bible Leaf, there 
was 'a dreadful fight with the Indians.' This was the great 
swamp fight, at South Kingston, R. I., when eighty white men 
and more than three hundred Indians were killed. Mr. Ephraim 
Newhall, of Lynn, was one of the slain. 

Wenepoykin, the Sagamore of Lynn, who had never been in 
deep friendship with the whites, went and luiited with Pometa- 
com. He probably had some causes of ofl'ence which have been 
left unrecorded. Lideed the thousand little insults, which the 
men of his race have ever been in the habit of receiving from 
white men, and which must have been felt by his proud mind, 
might have been suificient cause for his conduct. As a poetess 
has well said — 

Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmixed with hate, 
Make up in number what they want in weight. 



1 676.] II I s T o R Y OF L Y .\ x ; 1 57 

Two of the descendants of Nnn;t})aslienict, whose names 
were Quanapang and Quanapohit, living on Deer Island, had 
become Christians, by the names of James and Thomas. These 
united Avith the whites, and became spies for them, for which 
they were to have £6 each; for which cause the Wampanoag 
Sachem offered a reward for their death, but they survived the 
■war. Several anecdotes of their cunning are preserved by Mr. 
Drake. At one time, when they were taking him to Pometa- 
com, Quanapaug escaped by his skill. Quanapohit, also, came 
accidentally upon six of his armed enemies, whom he put to 
flight, and plundered their wigwam, by turning round and beck- 
oning, as if he were calling his company. 

1676. The war with the Indians was prosecuted by both 
parties with the most determined vigor and cruelty. Many towns 
were burnt, and many of the inhabitants put to death. Great 
numbers of the Indians also were killed, and those who were 
taken prisoners were most cruelly sold for slaves to the West 
Lidies, against the earnest entreaties of some of the principal 
officers. At last, Philip was pursued to a swamp, near his resi- 
dence at Mount Hope, and killed, on the morning of Saturday, 
the twelfth of August. After his death Annawon, Tispaquin, 
and others of his chiefs and warriors, submitted themselves, on 
the promise that their lives would be spared ; but they Avere 
unmercifully put to death. From the expressions of some of 
them, it is probable that they did not wish to survive the destruc- 
tion of their nation. 

Thus fell Philip, the last great king of the Wampanoags, — 
the last formidable enemy of the English. Like Sassacus, he 
foresaw the destruction of his nation ; but he was at first friendly 
to the white people, and wept when he heard that some of them 
had been killed. The pen of the historian will do justice to his 
patriotism, and the harp of the poet will eulogize him in strains 
of immortality. 

Tradition, legend, tune, and song, 
Shall many an age that wail prolong; 
8tiU from the sire the son shall hear 
Of that stern strife and carnage drear. 

Wenepoykin, who had joined with the Wampanoags, was 
taken prisoner; and sold as a slave to l^arbadoes. He returned 
in 1684, at the end of eight years, and died at the house of his 
relative, James Mnminquash, at the age of 68 years. The tes- 
timony of Tokowampate and Waban, given October 7, 1686, and 
preserved in Essex Registry of Deeds, declares, that ' Sagamore 
George, when he came from Barbadoes, lived some time, and 
died at the house of James Rumneymarsh.' The old chief, who 



158 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1677. 

had ruled in freedom over more than half the State of Massa- 
chusetts, returned from his slavery, sad and broken-hearted, to 
die in a lone wigwam, in the forest of JNatick, in the presence 
of his sister Yawata. 

A law had been passed, prohibiting the friendly Indians from 
going more than one mile from their own wigwams. On the 
twenty -fifth of October, the Court agreed that they might go out 
to gather 'chesnuts and other nuts in the wilderness,' if two 
white men went Avith each company, whose charges were to be 
paid by the Indians. 

The injuries which the Lrdians received in the early history 
of our country, cannot now be repaired ; but the opportunity is 
afforded for our national government to manifest its high sense 
of magnanimity and justice, and to evince to the world that re- 
publics are not unmindful of honor and right, by redressing any 
wrongs which the existing red men have received, and by pro- 
viding for their welfare, in a manner becoming a great and pow- 
erful nation, which has received its extensive domains from a 
people who are now wandering as fugitives in the land of their 
fathers. Such conduct, it may reasonably be expected, will 
receive the approbation of heaven ; and it cannot be supposed, 
that He Avho watches the fall of the sparrow, will regard its 
neglect with indifference. 

The leaf of the Bible says, there was 'a great sickness this 
year.' 

1677. The following letter was addressed by Mr. Whiting 
to Increase Mather, October 1, 1677. 

' Reverend and Dear Cousin. I acknowledge myself much 
engaged, as to God for all his mercies, so to yourself for your in- 
defatigable labors, both in our church here, and in your writings, 
which of your love you have sent to me from time to time ; and 
especially for your late book which you sent to me, wherein you 
have outdone any that I have seen upon that subject. Go on, 
dear cousin, and the Lord prosper your endeavors for the glory 
of his great name, and the good of many souls. And let me beg 
one request of you, that you would set pen to paper in writing 
an history of New England, since the coming of our chief men 
hither; which you may do, by conferring with Mr. Higginson, 
and some of the first planters in Salem, and in other places ; 
which I hope you may easily accomplish, having by your dili- 
gence and search found out so much history concerning the Pe- 
quot war. And the rather let me entreat this favor of you, 
because it hath not been hitherto done by any in a polite and 
scholar like way ; which if it were so done would glad the hearts 
of the Lord's people, and turn to your great account in the last 



1678.] H I S T O RY O F L Y i\ N . 159 

and great day of the Lord Jesus. Thus commending my love 
to you and your loving consort, with thanks to you for your 
kindness to me and my son, when we were last with you at your 
house, beseeching the Lord to bless you and all yours, not know- 
ing how shortly I must put off this earthly tabernacle, I rest, 

Samuel Whiting.' 

At this time, there was but one Post Office in Massachusetts, 
which was at Boston. On the third of December, the Court of 
Assistants appointed John Hayward Postmaster for the whole 
colony. 

On Thanksgiving day, the fourth of December, happened one 
of the greatest storms ever known in New England. It blew 
down many houses and many trees. 

1678, This year, Samuel Appleton, Jr., took possession of 
the Iron Works, by a grant in the will of William Payne, of 
Boston. On the ninth of June, Thomas Savage prosecuted an 
old mortgage which he held on the property, and Samuel Waite 
testifies, ' There is land, rated at Three Thousand acres of L'on 
]\Iill Land.' In 1679, Mr. Appleton had possession of three 
fourths of the L-on Works, valued at £1500. The law suits 
respecting the Iron Works were protracted to a tedious length, 
and papers enough are preserved in the Massachusetts arcliives, 
respecting them, to form a volume. 

The Selectmen, or as they were called, ' the Seven Pruden- 
tial men,' this year, were Thomas Laighton, Richard Walker, 
Andrew Mansfield, William Bassett, Nathaniel Kerdand, John 
Burrill, and Ralph King. The price of corn was two shillings a 
bushel. 

The first meetinghouse of the Society of Friends, says an old 
record of one of their members, 'was raised on Wolf Hill,' where 
their meetinghouse now stands. 

The people of Reading petitioned the General Court, on the 
third of October, that the alewives might be permitted to come 
up to Reading Pond, as before ; that they might find no obstruc- 
tion at the Ii'on Works, but ' come up freely into our ponds, 
where they have their natural breeding place;' which was 
granted. 

Thomas Dexter, Jr., and Captain James Oliver, administrators 
to the estate of Thomas Dexter, prosecuted the town of Lynn, 
on the twenty-sixth of November, at Boston, for the recovery of 
Nahant. The jury decided in favor of the town. This was a 
review of the case decided September 1, 1657, against Mr. 
Dexter. 



160 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1679. 



1679. In the number of the early ministers of New England, 
there were few who deserved a higher celebrity, for the purity 
of their character, and the fervor of their piety, than the Ptev. 
Samuel Whiting. His name has been frequently overlooked 
by biographers, and little known and estimated even in his own 
parish. He has no stone erected to his memory, and the very 
place where he was buried is known only to a few. 

Dust long outlasts the storied stone, 
But thou — thy very dust is gone. 

This is another instance of the truth of the observation, that 
men are indebted to the poet and the historian for their remem- 
brance to after ages. An honorable memorial of the dererving 
dead is one of the rewards of goodness, and the very desire of 
remembrance is itself a virtue. We naturally love the idea that 
we are remembered by others, and that our names will be 
known beyond the circle of those with whom we shared the 
endearments of friendship. It is sweet to think that we have 
not altogether lived in vain ; to persuade ourselves that we have 
conferred some slight benefit on the world, and that posterity 
will repay the pleasing debt by mentioning our names with ex- 
pressions of regard. It is not vanity, it is not ambition ; it is a 
pure love of mankind, an exalting sense of right, that twines 
itself around every virtuous and noble mind, raising it above the 
enjoyment of worldliness, and making us wish to prolong our 
existence in the memory of the good. 

Rev. Samuel Whiting was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, 
England, on the twentieth of November, 1597. His father, Mr. 
John Whiting, was mayor of that city in 1600; and his brother 
John obtained the same office in 1625. Having completed his 
studies in the school of his birth place, young Samuel entered 
the university at Cambridge ; where he had for his classmate, 
his cousin, Anthony Tuckney, afterward Master of St. John's 
College, with whom he commenced a friendship, which was 
not quenched by the waters of the Atlantic. He received im- 
pressions of piety at an early age, and loved to indulge his 
meditations in the retired walks of Emanuel College. He 
entered college in 1613, took his first degree in 1616, and his 
second in 1620. Having received orders in the Church of Eng- 
land, he became chaplain in a family consisting of five ladies 
and two knights. Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Roger Townsend, 
with whom he resided three years. He then went to old Lynn, 
where he spent three years more, a colleague with Mr. Price. 
While at that place, complaints were made to the Bishop of 
Norwich, of his nonconformity in administrating the services of 
the church, on which he removed to Skirbick, one mile from old 



2 57 9.] H I s T o K V o F L y N N . 161 

Boston There the complaints were rencAved, on which he de- 
termined to sell his possessions and embark lor America He 
remarked ' I am going into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the 
Lord and I will not leave a hoof behind me.' The beauty, 
nietv' and harmony of the church, in our own time, induce us to 
wonder why a pious man should have objected to her services. 
But the church, at that period demanded more than is now re- 
qmred; and the dissenters, by their repugnance to those cere- 
monies and requisitions which were excessive were driven to 
revolt against those forms which were really judicious. 

Mr Whiting sailed from England in the beginning of Apni, 
1636, and arrived at Boston on the twenty-sixth ol May. He 
was very sea sick on his passage, during which he preached but 
one sermon. He obsei-ved, that he would 'much rather have 
undercrone six weeks imprisonment for a good cause, than six 
weeks of such terrible sea sickness.' He came to Lynn m June 
and was iiistaUed on the eighth of November, at the age ot 
thirtv-nine. He was admitted to the privileges of a freeman on 
the sevenieenth of December. His residence was nearly oppo- 
site the meetinghouse, in Shepherd street. He had a walk m 
his orchard, in which he used to indulge his habit of meditation 
and some who frequently saw him walking there, remarked, 
' There does our dear pastor walk with God every day. An 
anecdote related of him, will serve to illustrate his character. 
In one of his excursions to a neighboring town, he stopped at a 
tavern, where a company were revelling. As he passed their 
door he thus addressed them: 'Friends, if you are sure that 
vour sins are pardoned, you may be wisely merry. He is re- 
puted to have been a man of good learning, and an excellent 
Hebrew scholar. In 1649, he delivered a Latm oration at Cam- 
bndo-e; a copy of which is preserved in the Library of the 
Mas'sachusetts Historical Society. He employed much of his 
leisure in reading history; and he could scarcely have chosen a 
study more indicative of the seriousness and solidity ot his 
mind He possessed great command over his passions, was 
extremely mild and affable in his deportment, and his counte- 
nance was generally illumined by a smile. He was chosen 
moderator in several ecclesiastical councils, and appears to have 
been o-enerally respected. In his preachmg, he was ardent and 
devoted- but'he was less disposed to frighten his hearers by 
wild and boisterous efibrts, than to win them to virtue by mild 
and persuasive eloquence. m- . j i „ 

: In the latter part of his life, Mr. Whiting was afflicted by a 
complication of disorders, and endured many hours of mos ex- 
cruciating pain. But his patience was mexhaustible and his 
strength enabled him to continue the performance of the pubho 
services till a very advanced age, in which he was assisted by 



162 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1679. 

his youngest son, Joseph. A short time before his death, he 
presented to the General Court a claim for five hundred acres 
of land, which he had by deed of gift, from his brother-in-law, 
Mr. Ptichard Westland, an alderman of Boston, in England, who 
had loaned money to the colony of Massachusetts. As the claim 
had been some time due, the Court allowed him six hundred 
acres. He made his will on the twenty-fifth of February, 1679. 
He commences thus : ' After my committing of my dear flock 
unto the tender care of that great and good Shepherd, the Lord 
Jesus Christ.' He gave his son Samuel, at Billerica, his house 
and four hundred acres of land at Dunstable, valued at £362, 
and fourteen acres of marsh at Lynn. He remembered his son 
John, at Leverton, in England, and his daughters, at Roxbury 
and Topsfield, and bequeathed his dwellinghouse, orchard, and 
eight acres of marsh, at Lynn, to his son Joseph. His money 
and plate amounted to £ 77 2 ; and his whole estate to £ 570 15 6. 
He died on the eleventh of December, 1679, at the age of eighty- 
two ; having preached at Lynn forty-three years. 

The death of Mr. Whiting called forth the following elegy 
from the pen of Mr. Benjamin Thomson, a schoolmaster, born 
at Braintree, and the first native American poet. 

UPON THE VERY REVEREND SAMUEL WHITING. 

Mount, Fame, the glorious chariot of the sun! 
Through the world's cirque, all you, her heralds, run, 
And let this great saint's merits be revealed, 
Which during life he studiously concealed. 
Cite all the Levites, fetch the sons of art. 
In these our dolors to sustain a part ; 
Warn all that value worth, and every one 
Within their eyes to bring a Helicon ; 
For in this single person we have lost 
More riches than an India has engrost. 

When Wilson, that plerophory of love, 
Did from our banks up to his centre move. 
Rare Whiting quotes Columbus on this coast, 
Producing gems of which a king might boast. 
More splendid far than ever Aaron wore, 
Within his breast this sacred father bore. 
Sound doctrine, Urim, in his holy cell. 
And all perfections, Thummim, there did dwell. 
His holy vesture was his innocence ; 
His speech, embroideries of curious sense. 
Such awful gravity this doctor used, 
As if an angel every word infused ; 
No turgent style, but Asiatic lore ; 
Conduits were almost full, seldom run o'er 
The banks of time — come visit when you will, 
The streams of nectar were descending still. 
Much like semtemfluous Nilus, rising so, 
He watered Christians round, and made them grow. 
His modest whispers could the conscience reach, 
As well as whirlwinds, which some others preach. 
No Boanerges, yet could touch the heart. 
And clench his doctrine with the meekest art. 



1679.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 

His learning and his language might become 

A province not inferior to Rome. 

Glorious was Europe's heaven, when such as these, 

Stars of his size, shone in each diocese. 

Who writ'st the fathers' lives, either make room. 
Or with his name begin your second tome. 
Aged Polycarp, deep Origen, and such. 
Whose worth your quills, your wits not them enrich ; 
Lactantius, Cyprian, Basil, too, the great, 
Quaint Jerome, Austin, of the foremost seat, 
With Ambrose, and more of the highest class 
In Christ's great school, with honor I let pass, 
And humbly pay my debt to Whiting's ghost. 
Of whom both tnglands may with reason boast. 
Nations for men of lesser worth have strove 
To have the fame, and in transports of love 
Built temples, or fixed statues of pure gold, 
And their vast worth to after ages told. 
His modesty forbade so fair a tomb. 
Who in ten thousand hearts obtained a room. 

Wliat sweet composure in his angel face ! 
What soi't afleclion.s I melting gleams of grace! 
How mildly pleasant' by his closed lips 
Ehetoric's bright body suffers an eclipse. 
Should half his sentences be fairly numbered, 
And weighed in wisdom's scales, 'twould spoil a Lombard, 
And churches' homilies but homily be. 
If, venerable Whiting, set by thee. 
Profoundest judgment, with a meekness rare, 
Preferred him to the moderator's chair. 
Where, like truth's champion, with his piercing eye, 
He silenced errors, and bade Hectors fly. 
Soft answers quell hot passions, ne'er too soft, 
Where solid judgment is enthroned aloft. 
Church doctors are my witnesses, that here 
Affections always kepi their proper sphere 
Without those wilder eccentricities, 
Which spot the fliirest fields of men most wise. 
In pleasant places fall that people's line. 
Who have but shadows of men thus divine ; 
Much more their presence, and heaven piercing prayers. 
Thus many years to mind our soul affairs. 

The poorest soil oft has the richest mine ! 
This weighty ore, poor Lynn, was lately thine. 
O, wondrous mercy! but this glorious light 
Hath left thee in the terrors of the night. 
New-F>ngland, didst thou know this mighty one. 
His weight and worth, thou 'dst think thyself undone. 
One of thy golden chariots, which among 
The clergy rendered thee a thousand strong ; 
One who for learning, wisdom, grace, and years, 
Among the Levites hath not many peers ; 
One, yet with God, a kind of heavenly band. 
Who did whole regiments of woes withstand ; 
One that prevailed with heaven ; one greatly mist 
On earth, he gained of Christ whate'er he list ; 
One of a world, who was both born and bred 
At wisdom's feet, hard by the fountain's head. 
The loss of such a one would fetch a tear 
From Niobe herself, if she were here. 
What qualifies our grief, centres in this ; 
Be our loss ne'er so great, the gain is his. 



163 



164 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1679. 

Tlie following epitaph has been applied to him by Mr. Mather. 

In Christo vixi morior, vivoque, Whitingus ; 
Do sordes morti, cetera, O Christe, tibi, do. 

In Christ I lived and died, and yet I live ; 
My dust to earth, my soul to Christ, I give. 

Mr. Whiting published the following pamphlets and books. 

1. A Latin Oration, delivered at Cambridge, on Commence- 
ment day, 1649. 

2. A Sermon, preached before the Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company, at Boston, 1660. 

3. ' A Discourse of the Last Judgment, or Short Notes upon 
Matthew 25, from verse 31 to the end of the chapter, concerning 
the Judgment to come, and our preparation to stand before the 
great Judge of quick and dead ; which are of sweetest comfort 
to the elect sheep, and a most dreadful amazement and terror to 
reprobate goats.' Cambridge, 1664, 12mo. 160 pages. 

4. 'Abraham's Humble Intercession for Sodom, and the Lord's 
Gracious Answer in Concession thereto.' Cambridge, 1666, 12mo. 
349 pages. From this work the following extracts are taken. 

' What is it to draw nigh to God in prayer ? It is not to come 
with loud expressions, when we pray before Him. Loud crying 
in the ears of God, is not to draw near to God. They are nearer 
to God, that silently whisper in His ears and tell Him what they 
want, and what they would have of Him. They have the 
King's ear, not that call loudest, but those that speak softly to 
him, as those of the council and bed chamber. So they are 
nearest God, and have His ear most, that speak softly to Him 
in prayer. 

' In what manner are we to draw nigh to God in prayer ? In 
sincerity, with a true heart. Truth is the Christian soldier's 
girdle. We must be true at all times ; much more when we 
fall upon our knees and pray before the Lord. 

' We, in this country, have left our near relations, brothers, 
sisters, fathers' houses, nearest and dearest friends ; but if we 
can get nearer to God here, He will be instead of all, more than 
all to us. He hath the fulness of all the sweetest relations bound 
up in Him. We may take that out of God, that we forsook in 
father, mother, brother, sister, and friend, that hath been as near 
and dear as our own soul. 

' Even among the most wicked sinners, there may be found 
some righteous; some corn among the chaff — some jewels 
among the sands — some pearls among a multitude of shells. 

' Who hath made England to differ from other nations, that 
more jewels are found there than elsewhere? or what hath that 
Island that it hath not received? The East and West Ladies 
yield their gold, and pearl, and sweet spices ; but I know where 



1579.] HISTORY OP LYNN. 165 

the golden, spicy, fragrant Christians ^^ -England hath yieMed 
these Yet not England, but the grace of God, that hath been 
eVer with them. We see what hope we may have concernmg 
New-England ; though we do not deserve to be named the same 

day with°our dear mother.' , • , ,, i^ ^r atpw 

In enumerating the evils with which the people of ISeu 
England were obliged to contend, he says, it is cause 'for humil- 
iation, that our sins have exposed us to live among such wicked 
sinners,' with whom he ranks ' Atheists and Quakers. 

Mr Whitmg married two vvives in England. By his first wife 
he had three children. Two of them were sons, who, with then- 
mother died in England. The other was a daughter, who came 
whhh;r father to America, and married Mr. Thomas Weld, of 

^'ffis"Jecond wife was Elizabeth St. John, of Bedfordshire, to 
whom he was married in 1630. She was a daughter of O hver 
St. John, Chief Justice of England m the time ot O ivei Ciom- 
well She came to Lynn with her husband, and died on the 
third of March, 1677, aged seventy-two years. She was a wo- 
man of uncommon piety, seriousness, and discretion; and not 
only assisted her husband in writing his sermons, but by hei 
care and prudence reheved him from all attention to temporal 
concerns. By her he had six children ; four sons and two daugh- 
ters. One daughter married the Pvev. Jeremiah Hobart of Tops- 
field ; and one son and one daughter died at Lynn. The other 
three sons received an education at Cambridge. , . cqo 

1 Rev. Samuel Whiting, Jr., was born m England IbSo. 
He "studied with his father, at Lynn, and graduated at Cam- 
brido-e, in 1 653. He was ordained minister of Billerica, 1 1 No- 
vember, 1663 ; preached the Artillery Election Sermon, m 168^ ; 
and died 28 February, 1713, aged 79 years. The name of his 
^vife was Dorcas, and he had ten children. 1. Elizabeth. 2. Sam- 
uel 3. Rev. John, minister at Lancaster; where he was killed 
by the Indians, 11 September, 1697, at the age of o3. 4. Oliver. 
5 Dorothy. 6. Joseph. 7. James. 8. Eunice. 9. Benjamin. 

10. Benjamin. ■ ■,rr,r> tt^ 

2. Rev. .lohn Whiting, graduated at Cambridge, ml 6oo^ tie 

returned to England, became a minister of the Church, and died 

at Leverton, in Lincolnshire, October 11, 1689, very extensively 

res^pected. ^^ ^^^^-^^^^ graduated in 1661. He was ordained 

at Lynn, 6 October, 1680, and soon after removed to Southamp- 
ton, on Long Island. He married Sarah Danforth, of Cam- 
bridge, daughter of Thomas Danforth, Deputy Govei-nor. He 
had six children, born at Lynn. 1. Samuel, born . July 1674 
2 Joseph, born 22 November, 1675. 3. .Toseph born 8 May, 
1677. 1. Tliomns, born 20 May, 1678. 5. .Joseph, born 14 .Ian- 



166 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1680. 

nary, 1680. 6. John, born 20 Jannary, 1681. All except the 
first and sixth, died within a few weeks of their birth. 

Of the descendants of Mr. Whiting, now living, are the Rev. 
Samnel Whiting, minister at Billerica; and Henry Whiting, a 
major in the service of the United States, and anthor of a bean- 
tiful little Indian tale, entitled Ontwa, or the Son of the Forest. 

1680. On the sixth of October, Mr. Jeremiah Shepherd was 
ordained pastor, and Mr. Joseph Whiting teacher, of the church 
at Lynn. 

On the eighteenth of November, a very remarkable comet 
made its appearance, and continued about two months The 
train was thirty degrees in length, very broad and bright, and 
nearly attained the zenith. A memorandum, on a Bible leaf, 
thus remarks : ' A blazing star, at its greatest height, to my 
apprehension, terrible to behold.' It was regarded by most 
people with fear, as the sign of some great calamity. This was 
the comet on which Sir Isaac Newton made his interesting ob- 
servations. While the party, who were predominant in religious 
affairs, were noting every misfortune which befell those of a 
different opinion, as the judgments of God; they, on the other 
hand, regarded the earthquakes, the comets, and the blighting 
of the wheat, as manifestations of his displeasure against their 
persecutors. 

Dr. Philip Read, of Lynn, complained to the Court at Salem, 
of Mrs. Margaret Gifford, as being a witch. She was a respect- 
able woman, and wife of Mr. John Gifford, formerly agent for 
the Iron Works. The complainant said, ' he verily believed that 
she was a witch, for there were some things which could not be 
accounted for by natural causes.' Mrs. Gifford gave no regard 
to her summons, and the Court very prudently suspended their 
inquiries. 

' We present the wife of John Davis, of Lynn, for breaking 
her husband's head with a quart pot.' Essex Court Rec. 

1681. In town meeting, on the second of March, the people 
voted, that Mr. Shepard should be allowed eighty pounds, law- 
ful money, a year, for his salary ; one third of which was to be 
paid in money, and the other two thirds in articles of domestic 
production, at stipulated prices. Besides the salary, a contribu- 
tion was to be kept open. 

1682. The meetinghouse was this year removed from Shep- 
ard street to the centre of the common, and rebuilt. It was 
fifty feet long, and forty-four wide. It had folding doors on 
three sides, without porches. The top of each door was formed 
into two semicircular arches. The windows consisted of small 



16S3.] II 1 S T O 11 Y OF LYNN. 167 

diamond panes, set in sashes of lead. The floor was at first 
supphed with seats ; and pews were afterward separately set 
up by individuals, as they obtained permission of the town. 
By this means, the interior came at length to present a singular 
appearance. Some of the pews were large, and some small ; 
some square, and some oblong ; some with seats on three sides, 
and some with a seat on one side ; some with small oak panels, 
and some with large pine ones ; and most of them were sur- 
mounted by a little balustrade, with small columns, of various 
patterns, according to the taste of the proprietors. Most of the 
square pews had a chair in the centre, for the comfort of the old 
lady or gentleman, the master or mistress of the family, by 
whom it was occupied. One pew, occupied by black people, 
was elevated above the stairs in one corner, near to the ceiling. 
The galleries were extended on three sides, supported by six 
oak columns, and guarded by a turned balustrade. They were 
ascended by two flights of stairs, one in each corner, on the south 
side. The pulpit was on the north side, and sufficiently large 
to contain ten persons. The top of the room was unceiled for 
many years, and exhibited enormous beams of oak, traversing 
the roof in all directions. The light from the diamond windows 
in the gables, shining down upon the great oak beams, present- 
ed quite a picturesque appearance. The roof presented four 
pediments ; and was surmounted by a cupola, with a roof in the 
form of an inverted tunnel. It had a small bell, which was rung 
by a rope descending in the centre of the room. The town 
meetings continued to be held in this house till 1806. A sketch 
of this building, drawn before its form was changed, may be 
seen on page 99. 

1683. This year, the heirs of Major Thomas Savage sold 
the six hundred acres, called Hammersmith, or the lands of the 
Iron Works, to Samuel Appleton, who thus became possessed 
of the whole property. In 1688, he sold the whole to James 
Taylor, of Boston, who was the last proprietor of the L-on Works 
of whom I have found any record. They probably ceased op- 
erations about this time. 

1684. A letter written at Haverhill this year, by N. Sal ton- 
stall, to the captain of a militia company, thus proceeds : ' I have 
orders, also, to require you to provide a flight of colors for your 
foot company, the ground field or flight whereof is to be green, 
with a red cross in a white field in the angle, according to the 
ancient custom of our own English nation, and the English 
plantations in North America, and our own practice in our ships. 
This was the American standard, till the stripes and stars were 
introduced, in 1776. 



168 IIISTORV OF LYNN. [1685. 



1685. The following singular deposition is transcribed from 
the files of the Quarterly Court, and is dated July 1, 1685: 

' The deposition of Joseph Farr, and John Burrill, junior, tes- 
tifieth and saith, that they being at the house of Francis Burrill, 
and there being some difference betwixt Francis Burrill and 
Benjamin Farr, and we abovesaid understanding that the said 
Benjamin Farr had been a suitor to Elizabeth Burrill, the daugh- 
ter of Francis Burrill, and he was something troubled that Ben- 
jamin had been so long from his daughter, and the said Francis 
Burrill told the said Benjamin Farr that if he had more love to 
his marsh, or to any estate of his, than to his daughter, he should 
not go into his house ; for he should be left to his liberty, he 
should not be engaged to anything more than he was freely 
willing to give his daughter, if he had her ; and this was about 
two days before they was married.' 

At a town meeting, on the first of December, the people 
voted, that no inhabitant should cut any green tree upon the 
common lands, which was less than one foot in diameter. 

The following petitiqn of some of the inhabitants of Lynn, 
for a remuneration of their services in the Wampanoag war, was 
presented this year. 

' To the Honoured Governor and Company, the General Court 
of the Massachusetts Bay, that is to be assembled the 27 May, 
1685, the humble petition of several inhabitants of Lynn, who 
were sold, impressed, and sent forth for the service of the coun- 
try, that was with the Indians in the long march in the Nipmugg 
country, and the fight at the fort in Narragansett, humbly show- 
eth. That your petitioners did, in obedience unto the authority 
which God had set over them, and love to their country, leave 
their deare relations, some of us our dear wives and children, 
which we would have gladly remained at home, and the bond 
of love and duty would have bound us to choose rather soe to 
have done considering the season and time of the year, when 
that hard service was to be performed. But your petitioners 
left what was dear to them, and preferred the publique weal 
above the private enjoyments, and did cleave thereunto, and 
exposed ourselves to the diificulties and hardships of the winter, 
as well as the dangers of that cruel warr, with consideration to 
the enemy. What our hardships and difficulties were is well 
known to some of your worships, being our honoured magis- 
trates, as also what mercy ii was from the Lord, who alone pre- 
served us, and gave us our lives for a prey, by leading us through 
such imminent dangers, whereby the Lord gave us to see many 
of our dear friends lose their blood and life, which might have 
been our case, but that God soe disposed toward us deliverance 
and strength to returne to our homes, which we desire to rcmem- 



1685.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 169 

ber and acknowledge to his most glorious praise. But yet, we 
take the boldnes to signifie to this honored Court, how that ser- 
vice was noe whitt to our particular outward advantage, but to 
the contrary, much to our disadvantage. Had we had the lib- 
erty of staying at home, as our neighbors had, though we had 
paid double rates, it would have been to our advantage, as in- 
deed we did pay our properties by our estates in the publick 
rates to the utmost bounds. Notwithstanding all, yet we hum- 
bly conceive, that, by the suppression of the enemy, which God 
of his great mercy vouchsafed, wee poor soldiers and servants 
to the country were instruments to procure much land, which 
we doubt not shall and will be improved, by the prudence of 
this honoured Court, unto people that need most especially. 
And we, your poor petitioners, are divers of us in need of land, 
for want whereof some of us are forced upon considerations of 
departing this Colony and Government, to seek accommodations 
whereby the better to maintaine the charge in our families, with 
our wives and children, and to leave unto them when the Lord 
shall take us away by death, which we must expect. And di- 
vers of us have reason to fear our days may be much shortened 
by our hard service in the war, from the pains and aches of our 
bodies, that we feel in our bones and sinews, and lameness 
thereby taking hold of us much, especially at the spring and 
fall, whereby we are hindered and disabled of that ability for 
our labour wliich we constantly had, through the mercy of 
God, before, that served in the warrs. Now, your poore pe- 
titioners are hopeful this honored Court will be moved with 
consideration and some respect to the poor soldiery, and partic- 
ularly to us, that make bold to prefer our petition, humbly to 
crave, that we, whose names are hereunto subscribed, may be 
so graciously considered by this honored Court as to grant us 
some good tracks of land in the Nipmugg country, where we 
may find a place for a township, that we, your petitioners, and 
our posterity may live in the same colony where our fathers did, 
and left us, and probably many of those who went fellow sol- 
diers in the war may be provided for, and their children also, in 
the portion of conquered lands their fathers fought for. Your 
petitioners think it is but a very reasonable request, which will 
be no way offensive to this honored Court, which, if they shall 
please to grant unto your petitioners, it will not only be satisfac- 
tion to their spirits for their service already done, but be a future 
obligation to them and theirs after them for future service, and 
ever to pray.' This petition was signed by twenty-five inhabi- 
tants of Lynn, whose names were : William Bassett, John Far- 
rington, Nathaniel Ballard, Timothy Breed, Jonathan Locke, 
Daniel Johnson, Widow Hathorne,' Samuel Tarbox, Samuel 
Graves, John Edmunds, Samuel Johnson, Daniel Golt, Joseph 
22 



170 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



[1686. 



Hawkes, Andrew Townsend, John Davis, Joseph Collins, Sara- 
el Mower, Robert Potter, senior, Joseph Mansfield, Kobert Dri- 
ver John Richards. John Linzey, Philip Kertland, Joseph Breed, 
Henry Rhodes. It was also signed by sixteen persons ot other 
towns On the third of Jnne, the Court granted them a tract ot 
land in Worcester county, eight miles square, on condition that 
thirty famihes with an orthodox minister, should settle there 
within four years. 

1686 Mr. Oliver Purchis was chosen Town Clerk. 

' A great and terrible drouth, mostly in the 4th month, and 
continued in the 5th month, with but httle ram ; but the 18th, 
being the Sabbath, we had a sweet rain.' 

James Quanupcowit and David Kunkskawmushat, descend- 
ants of Nanapashemet, sold a lot of land, on tlae West side of 
the Iron Works' Pond, on the 28th of July, to Daniel Hitchmgs. 

1687. At a town meeting on the 15th of February, ' the 
town voted the Selectmen be a committee to look after en- 
croached lands, or highways, from Francis Burnll s barn to the 
gate that is by Timothy Breed's, or parcels of land m places 
least prejudicial to the town, and make good sale of any oi them 
on the Town's behalf, for money to pay the Indians at the time 
appointed, and the necessary charges of that affair/ 

On the 16th of February, Captain Thomas Marshall ex- 
changed with the town his right in Stone's meadow, m Lynn- 
field for a right in Edwards's meadow ; and the town, at the re- 
ques't of Mr. Shepard, made a grant of it to the ministry. 

Mr Shepard kept the school several months this winter. Ed- 
ucation, with the children of the early settlers, was a matter oi 
convenience, rather than of accomplishment. I have seen the 
signatures of several hundreds of the first settlers, and have /ac 
similes of many, and they are quite as good as an equal nuinber 
of signatures taken at random at the present day. But m clear- 
ing the forest, and obtaining a subsistence, they had httle leisure 
for their children to spend in study ; and a month or two m win- 
ter under the care of the minister, was the principal opportunity 
which they had to obtain the little learning requisite for then- 
future life. The consequence was, that the generations suc- 
ceeding the early settlers, from 1650 to 1790, were generally 
less learned than the first settlers, or than those who have hved 
since the Revolution. 




CHAPTER Vm. 

Usurpation of Andros — Nahant claimed by Edward Randolph — Defended by the 
town — Horrible delusion of Witchcraft — Nahant claimed by Richard Woodey's 
heirs — Laws concerning Shoemakers — Wolves and Foxes killed — Grammar 
School — Indian War. 16SS to 1705. 

' So tyrannizing and oppressing all.' 

SrENOEK. 

URING the administration of Sir Edmund An- 
dros, the people of Lynn had an opportunity of 
witnessing the tendency of arbitrary government. 
Andros had been appointed by the British King, 
James 11, Governor of all New England, and 
came over in 1686 to exercise that authority ; and 
his administration, for two years, was character- 
ized by many acts of arbitrary power. He asserted, that the 
people of Massachusetts had forfeited their charter, and that all 
the lands belonged to the King. Edward Randolph, his Secre- 
tary, looking round among these lands, to see where he might 
establish a little dukedom, fixed his attention upon the beautiful 
domain of Nahant, which he requested the Governor to give to 
him. The following is a copy of his petition. 

1688. ' To his Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, 
Governor, &c. &c. The humble petition of Edward Randolph, 
that there is a certain tract of land nigh the Township of Lynn, 
in the county of Essex, in this His Majesty's territory and do- 
minion, out of fence and undivided, containing about five hun- 
dred acres, commonly called Nahant neck, for which your peti- 
tioner humbly prays His Majesty's grant, and that your Excel- 
lence would please to issue a warrant to the Surveyor- General to 
admeasure the same, in order to passing a patent, he paying 
such moderate quitrent as your Excellence shall please to di- 
rect, &c. 

' Ed. Randolph.' 

On the reception of this modest petition, the Council, on Fri- 
day, the third of February, directed the constables to 'Give 
pubhc notice in the said town of Lynn, that, if any person or 



172 



HISTORY OF LYNN. [1688. 



persons have any claim or pretence to the said land they appear 
before his Excellency, the Governor, in Council, on Wednesday, 
the seventh of March next, then and there to show forth the 
same and why the said land may not be granted to the petition- 
er ' In pursuance of this order, the constable, John Edmunds, 
notified a town meeting, which was held on the fifth of March, 
when a committee was chosen, who made the following repre- 
sentation. , . -1 -rr • 1 A. J 

' To his Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, and our 
Honorable Governor, with his Honorable Council to sit with 
him on Wednesday, the seventh of this instant March 1688. 

' Havint^ received an order upon the second day of this in- 
stant March, that orders our constables of Lynn, or either of 
them to give public notice in the said town of Lynn, of a pe- 
tition of Mr. Edward Randolph, Esq., read in a councd held in 
Boston, on the third day of February, 1688, praying His Majes- 
tv's grant of a certain tract of land, therein called vacant land, 
lying nigh the town of Lynn, called Nahant, &c., as also, that 
if aSy person or person have any claim or pretence to the said 
lands they appear before his Excellency, in council, on Wednes- 
day the seventh of this instant March, to show forth the same, 
and why the said land may not be granted to the petition &c. 

' Wherefore, we, the proprietors of the pasture of Nahant, 
and inhabitants of Lynn, have, in obedience to our present Hon- 
orable Governor and his Honorable Council, presented before 

them as foUoweth. 

Imprimis : Our humble and most thankful acknowledgment 
of the favor showed unto us, in giving us notice of such an en- 
terprise, as whereby, should it take effect, would so extremely 
indamage so many of His Majesty's good subjects at once; 
whereby we conclude his Excellency, our Honorable Governor, 
and his Honorable Council, are such as will search for and do 
iustice, and maintain the cause of the innocent, weak, and poor 
as we humbly and sincerely acknowledge ourselves to be ; and 
vet being clearly satisfied of our just right in the tract of lands 
petitioned for. have good hope our honorable rulers will, of clem- 
ency and justice, adhere to, hear and weigh reasons herein pre- 
sented, why we cannot comply with Mr. Edward Randolphs 
petition for the ahenation of our Nahants ; which, we humbly 
conceive, is groundlessly represented to be a parcel of vacant 
land and therefore must apply ourselves to demonstrate to our 
Honorable Governor, and his Honorable Council, the contrary. 
And although the time is very short indeed for us to lay betore 
your Honors to vindicate our just right to our Nahants, yet our 
endeavours shall be as effbctual as we can in so short a time as 
we have to bethink ourselves, and show your Honors, that it is 
not vacant land, and that the proprietors have a true and 



1668.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 173 

just right thereunto, wherefore we present your honors as fol- 
loweth. 

' That we have in our records, that in the year 1635, this tract 
of land, VIZ. our Nahants, was in the hands of the freemen of 
Lynn to dispose of; who did then grant unto several inhabitants 
to plant, and build upon, and possess ; and, if they did not per- 
form the conditions, they, to whom it was so granted, forfeited 
the land to the town again, to dispose as shall be thouglit fit ; 
and among those to whom these lands were granted, that wor- 
thy and honorable gentleman, Mr. Humphreys, was one, who 
was a patentee and an assistant in the first government ; there- 
fore, sure it was the town's land then. 

' That these inhabitants that did build and dwell there, they 
were tributaries, or tenants, and paid their yearly rent to the 
town as long as they lived, or were removed by the town ; as 
to mstance, one Robert Coates yet living to testify it. 

' There have been some that have laid a claim to this land 
called Nahant, and commenced suit at law with the town for it, 
but were cast at law, the Court that then was gave the town the 
case, justified the town's right, and never denied it, nor blamed 
them about it. 

' This tract of land, it hath been divided into planting lots to 
the several proprietors by a vote of the town, as appears in dur 
records. Anno, 1656, and the whole fenced as a common field, 
and the lots been improved by the proprietors, in planting, till- 
ing, and manuring ; and afterward, by the agreement of the 
proprietors, converted into a pasture ; and so, ever since to this 
day improved ; so we have by hard labor and industry subdued 
It, and brought it into so good a capacity as it is at this day for 
the town's future benefit and no other. 

' We have honestly purchased said tract of land with our 
money, of the original proprietors of the soil, viz. the Natives 
and have firm confirmation thereof, under their hands and seals! 
according to law. 

' We have possessed and improved the said tract of land up- 
wards of fifty years, for so long since it hath been built upon, 
inhabited by tenants paying their acknowledgments year after 
year. ■^ 

'We hope arguments of this nature will be swaying with so 
rational a commonwealth's man as Mr. Randolph, who hath ever 
pretended great respect to His Majesty's subjects among us, and 
an earnest care and desire to promote their welfare and prosper- 
ity. The premises considered, we beheve a gentleman under 
such circumstances, will not be injurious, by seeking a particu- 
lar benefit, to impoverish and disadvantage so many of His 
Majesty's good subjects, by seeking the alienation of such a 
tract of land, so eminently useful and needful for those propri- 



174 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



[16S8. 



etors now in possession of it -it being a thing so consistent 
with His Majesty's pleasure, that his subjects should enjoy theu: 
properties and flourish under his government^ 

'We are confident, therefore, that this Honorable Council 
will be solicitous for the promoting our welfare as not to sutter 
us to be impoverished by the alienation of such a considerable 
tract of land, as this will do, if it should be f l^^"=^\^^' ^ y^^: 
we are bold to say again, extremely prejudicial, if not impover 
ish the body of the inhabitants of Lynn, who hve not upon 
traffic and trading, as many seaport towns do, ^^J^^ave greater 
advantao-es, but upon husbandry, and raising such stocks ot cat 
'le and°sh;ep as^hey are capable, and as their outlands will 

afibrd; for this, our Nahant is such a P^^J^^ J^. aSf like 
nature hath fitted and accommodated with herbage, and like 
wise the only place about us for security for our creatures from 
le leeth of\'avening wolves ; which, tbis last summer a 
well as formerly, have devoured very many that fed in other 
places about us, to the very great damage of sundry of ^u^^^ 
habitants accordingly. Therefore, the ^^^^ tract of land hath 
been improved by the proprietors as a grazmg f^eld with great 
benefit to the body of the whole town, which otherwise wo^^^^^^ 
be exposed to great hardships, mconvemences, and difticulties 
to obtain a poorliving ; and, therefore we -nnot but be deeply 
sensible, that, if the said pasture be ahenated from us, our poor 
families will be very great sufferers, and we f ^^^ ^^^., ^^.^^^^^^ 
very uncapable, either to provide for them, or to contribute sch 
dues and duties to His Majesty's government set over us which 
olherwle we might be capable of, and shall always readily and 
carefuUv attend unto our utmost capacity. , , • -rj 

•And we humbly trust, our Honorable Governor and his Hon- 
orable Council will show us the favor, as in tbeir wisdoms to 
weigh and consider well our dutiful application to their order to 
give in and show our reasons why we claim this f\'^^}^^l 
Lid to be our right, as not to suffer any alienation of tbat wluch 
we do so much need for our great comfort and benefit , but 
rather grant us further confirmation thereof, it need require. 

' Ind thus we, the proprietors of the tract of land, even our 
Nahant, that is petitioned for, have taken notice of your Hon 
ors' order, and have, this first day of March, 1687 - 8, made 
choice of a committee, to consider what is meet to lay betore 
vour Honors, and of messengers, to appear and Pf f cnt the 
same to your Excellency, our Honorable Governor, and the Hon- 
oX Comicil; which, if these things are not satisfactory, we 
Sn in humility crave the favor of His Exce lency and h^ 
Honorable Council for such a trial and process as the law 
may admit of in such a case, wherein persons are in pos- 
session of lands, as we of this said tract, havmg tenants there- 



1688.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 175 

on ; and further time and opportunity being granted, we doubt 
not but we shall produce such vahd confirmations of our true 
and honest title to said tract of land, as shall be abundantly sat- 
isfactory to our honored rulers, and put a period to further de- 
bates about it. So we rest and remain. His Majesty's most loyal 
subjects, and your Excellency's and Council's most humble ser- 
vants. The Committee, in the name and behalf of the Proprie- 
tors of Nahant. 

' Thomas Laughton, 
Ralph King, 
John Lewis, 
Oliver Purchis, 
John Burrill, 
Edward Richards, 
John Fuller.' 

It may appear strange to many, at this time, to notice the 
humble and almost abject demeanor of the committee, as 
evinced in the preceding address. They doubtless thought, that 
nothing would be lost by soft words ; but the spirit of freemen was 
at length roused, and ample vengeance was soon to be taken on 
the aggressors of arbitrary power. Nothwithstanding the repre- 
sentation of the committee, Mr. Randolph persisted in his de- 
mand, and renewed his claim as follows. 

' To His Excellence, Sir Edmund Andros, Governor. The 
hunible representation of Edward Randolph showeth : That 
having, by his humble petition to your Excellence, prayed a 
grant of a certain tract of land lying in the township of Lynn, 
in the county of Essex, called Nahant, your Excellence was 
pleased, by your order in Council, the third day of February 
last, to direct that the constables of the said town do give public 
notice to the said town, that, if any person or persons have any 
claim or pretence to the said land, they should appear before 
your Excellence in Council, on Wednesday, the seventh of this 
instant March ; at which time several of the inhabitants of the 
said town of Lynn did appear, and presented your Excellence 
with a paper, containing their several objections to the said peti- 
tion. 

' In answer whereto, is humbly offered as follows : That by 
their said prayer, it docs not appear the lands petitioned for, or 
any part thereof, were disposed of to the inhabitants of Lynn, 
nor that the said town of Lynn was incorporated in the year 
1635, nor at any time since, and so not endowed with a power 
of receiving or disposing such lands. 

' That the freemen of Lynn, mentioned in the first article of 
their said paper, were not freemen of the corporation of Lynn, 
(as they would insinuate,) but inhabitants only in the township, 
and were admitted by the General Court to be freemen of 



176 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1688. 

the Colony, with power to elect magistrates, etc., and their town 
of Lynn is equal to a village in England, and no otherwise. 

' And in regard their whole paper contains nothuig more ma- 
terial tlten what is expressed in their first article, the petitioner 
hath nothing further to offer, than to pray your Excellence s 
grant according to his petition. All which is humbly sub- 
mitted. . X- -n 

• Ed. Randolph. 

On the reception of this petition, the people of Lynn held an- 
other meeting, and addressed the Governor as follows. 

' To His Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, our Hon- 
orable Governor, Captain- General of his Majesty's Territory and 
Dominion in New England, the humble address of the inhabi- 
tants of Lynn is humbly offered. .-,,/> c 
• We whose names are subscribed, having, by the favor of 
your Excellency, good information of the endeavours of some 
to seek the alienation of a tract of land from us, called the Na- 
hants, containing about four or five hundred acres, which will 
prove extremely prejudicial and injurious to the body of His 
Majesty's subjects among us ; it being a tract of land honorably 
purchased of the natives, the original proprietors of the soil, and 
possessed by our predecessors and ourselves near upon sixty 
years and to this day. We have also reneived confirmations of 
the tract of land hy Jirm deed from the successors of the ancient 
proprietors, the natives ; having also been at great cost and 
charges, and hard labor for the subduing of the said land, to 
brino- it into so good a capacity as it is in at this day ; having 
also^'defended our right to this tract of land as well as others 
possessed by us, by blood and the loss of many lives, ho\h for- 
merly, and especially in the late engagements, with the barba- 
rous pa<rans. The said tract of land having been built upon, 
also and inhabited upwards of fifty years. It hath been ploughed, 
planted tilled, and manured, and fenced in ; the fence remaining 
to this very day, only wanting reparation ; none ever, to this day, 
from the first settlement of our plantation — called formerly by 
the name of Sawgus — dispossessing of us ; but we have main- 
tained our possession and right, which hath been owned and 
defended by His Majesty's former government set over us. 
The said tract of land being also eminently beneficial and need- 
ful for the support of our inhabitants ; it being improved for a 
grazing field for our sheep, and such other useful creatures as 
can scarcely be preserved from the ravening wolves. 

' Therefore, we are sensible, that, by the ahenation of such a 
tract of land from us, so circumstanced, many of His Majesty s 
good subjects, — our honest, innocent neighbors, — will be ex- 
posed to great sufferings and hardships, and we all rendered inca- 
pable to contribute such dues and duties to His Majesty s govern- 



1589.1 HISTORY OF LYNN. 177 

ment set over us, as is our bounden duty, and which we shall 
always readily attend, knowing how consistent it is with His 
Majesty's pleasure, and how well pleasing to your Excellency, 
that we live and prosper under your government. 

' We request your Excellency, therefore, to condescend to cast 
a favorable aspect upon the premises, and that our mean and shat- 
tered condition may not induce your contempt, but rather obtain 
your pitv and succour. And, therefore, we confide in your Ex- 
cellency's favor for our encouraging answer to this our petition, 
which is for the further and future enjoying of our Nahants. 

' By your Excellency's fatherly and compassionate grant ot 
such a patent for further confirmation thereof unto ourselves 
and heirs forever, upon a moderate acknowledgment to be paid 
to His Royal Majesty, as may be consistent with your Excel- 
lency's prudence, and most conducive to our best behoof and ben- 
efit and so that we may live and prosper under your government, 
that we may have tranquihty under the same from henceforth. 

' The second day of April, Anno Domini, One Thousand bix 
Hundred Eighty and Eight. Annoqid Regni Regis Jacobi be- 

cioidi Quarto.' • i i •♦ * 

The above petition was signed by seventy-four inhabitants, 
and with the preceding papers, are preserved m the Massachu- 
setts archives. Their interesting nature has induced me to give 
them entire. I have only corrected the spelling. 

The revenge which had been burning m the breasts of the 
eastern Indians for twelve years, for their friends killed and 
sold into slavery in 1676, this year broke out into open war. 
Their animosity was increased by the instigation of Baron de bt. 
Castine a Frenchman, who married a daughter of Madocka- 
wando, the Penobscot Chief. His house had been plundered 
by Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of Massachusetts, and 
and this induced him to join with the Indians. The French of 
Canada also united with them in their depredations, which 
were continued with intervals till 1698, under the appellation of 
Castine's war. A company of soldiers from Lynn were im- 
pressed by order of the Governor, and sent out against the In- 
dians in the depth of winter. One of the soldiers from Lynn, 
Mr. .Joseph Ramsdell, was killed by them at Casco Bay, in 1690. 

1689. The assumptions of Andros and his lordly secretary, 
as may well be supposed, gave great offence to the people of 
Lynn, and there seems to have been no other general topic of 
conversation for several years. At length the spirit of the peo- 
ple was roused to such a degree, that, on the nineteenth of 
April, the inhabitants of Boston rose in arms, wrested the power 
from Sir Edmund, and confined him a prisoner on Fort Hdl until 
he was sent back to England. 
23 



178 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1689. 

The people of Lynn, who had not only been injured, but even 
insulted by Governor Andros, united with some from other 
towns, and went up to Boston, under the command of Rev. Jer- 
emiah Shepard, the minister of Lynn. A writer who was pres- 
ent says : 'April 19th, about 11 o'clock, the country came in, 
headed by one Shepherd, teacher of Lynn, who were like so 
many wild bears ; and the leader, mad with passion, more sav- 
age than any of his followers. All the ciy was for the Governor 
and Mr. Randolph.' * The Lynn people were doubtless some- 
what excited, but it may be noted, that the above account of 
their conduct was written by a friend of Governor Andros. 

In the exigency of public affairs, town meetings were held, 
and a Committee of Safety for the county of Essex appointed, 
with directions to make a report of grievances, to be laid before 
the government. The people of Lynn made the following rep- 
resentation. 

' At Lynn, the 24th of May, 1689, upon a signification from 
Captain Jonathan Corwin, of the Committee of the County of 
Essex, to make inquiry into the grievances suffered under the 
late government, that it is expressed, that this town, or any in- 
habitants therein, that have been aggrieved or burthened, do 
manifest the same under their hand, to the Committee aforesaid, 
or to Captain Jonathan Corwin to make known the same. We 
the Committee, chosen by the inhabitants of Lynn, on the 20tli 
of May, 1689, to consider of the signification abovesaid, and to 
draw up what grievances and burdens we have sustained by the 
late government, &c., do declare, viz. that this poor town of 
Lynn have sustained great wrong and damage by the said late 
government; in that our orderly, honest, and just rights, in a 
tract of land within the bounds of Lynn, called Nahants, that 
hath been enjoyed, possessed, built upon, and improved, by fen- 
cing, planting, and pasturing, kc, by the township of Lynn, well 
omcccrd to sixty years ; and yet, by the injurious, unjust, and cov- 
etous humors of some very ill minded persons, upon petitions 
preferred, — as Mr. Randolph first, and Mary Dafiin, of Boston, 
in the second place, when Mr. Randolph could not make his pe- 
tition true and valid, then he throweth in Mary Dafiin her peti- 
tion for the same lands, and as unjustly founded as Mr. Ran- 
dolph's. But on their two petitions and vain pretences, we, the 
poor people of Lynn, have been, by orders from the Governor 
and Council, called, summoned, and ordered to appear at Bos- 
ton, and to show and make good title to said lands before Sir 
Edmund Andros, and his Council, at one sitting, and a second 



* This interesting passage, probably written by Randolph himself, was copied 
from a manuscript Account of the Insurrection, among the papers of the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, in the Lambeth Palace, at London. 



15S9.] HISTORY OF LYNN. l^Q 

sittin- and so a third, and a fourth, to our great loss, and ex- 
penslof time and moneys, and no advantage nor benefit to us 
because of delays and procrastinations, to screw our moneys out 
of our hands, and to make us pay, with a vengeance, for such 
wnt ncrs as ^ve must be constrahred to take forth. And thus we 
have been grieved and oppressed, and put to loss cost, and 
damage nea^r one hundred pounds, and never the better no 
justice done us, and at last put upon a threatened necessity of 
patenting our own old enjoyed properties, and a denial of om 
Lhts m any of our commons, always enjoyed, but now called 
ife g's lands, and we denied to be any town. Thus we have 
beeS perplexed, vexed, and oppressed, and impovens^hed , and 
except the Lord had wrought for us, whose name we bless and 
give thanks to the worthy gentlemen, his mstruments ue ha i 
been the worst of bondmen. Furthermore, we were debarred, 
bv the late government, of our constant liberty of town mee - 
ings but once in a year, whereby we could not mee to consult 
of defending our rights in the premises, because it should be 
charo-ed with not; and also of keeping a watch for our security 
from\ny dangers we had too just cause to fear, which was our 
^reat grief and burthen ; and our abuses by the profane farmers 
of excise; and our sons, neighbors, and servants mipressed 
and sent out so remote in the winter season, and constrained 
hereunto, and all sufferings, and we understand not upon wliat 
grounds. Per order of, or in the name of the Town and Com- 

'^^"^®- Oliver Purchis, Cleric. 

'Jeremiah Shepard, aged forty-two years, and John Burrill, 
a-ed fifty-seven years, we, whose names are subscribed, being 
chosen by the inhabitants of Lynn, in the Massachusetts Colo- 
nv in New England, to maintain their right to their properties 
and lands, invaded by Sir Edmund Andres's government we do 
testify that, (beside Sir Edmund Andros his unreasonable de- 
man£ of money, by way of taxation, and that without an as- 
sembly and deputies, sent from our towns, accordmg to ancient 
custom, for the raising of money and levyingof rates ) our prop- 
erties, our honest, and just, and true titles to our land were also 
invaded ; and particularly a great and considerable tract of land, 
called by the name of the Nahants, the only secure place for 
the o-razin- of .some thou.sanch of our sheep, and without which 
our Inhabitants could neither provide for their families, nor be 
capacitated to pay dues or duties for the maintenance of the 
pubUc but, if dispossessed of, the town must needs be impover- 
ished ruined, and rendered miserable. Yet this very tract of 
land being petitioned for by Edward Randolph, was threatened 
to be rent out of our hands, notwithstanding our honest and just 



180 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1690. 

pleas for onr right to the said land, both by aHenation of the 
said land to us by the original proprietors, the natives, to whom 
we paid our moneys by way of purchase, and notwithstanding- 
near sixty years peaceable and quiet possession, and improve- 
ment, and also enclosure of the said land by a stone wall ; in 
which tract of land, also, two of our patentees were interested 
in common with us, viz. Major Humfrey and Mr. Johnson ; yet 
Edward Randolph petitioning for the said land. Sir Edmund, the 
Governor, did so far comply with his unreasonable motion, that 
we were put to great charges and expense for the vindication 
of our honest rights thereto. And being often before the Gov- 
ernor, Sir Edmund, and his Council, for relief, yet could find no 
favor of our innocent cause by Sir Edmund ; notwithstanding 
our pleas of purchase, ancient possession, enclosure, grant of 
General Court, and our necessitous condition ; yet he told us 
that all these pleas were insignificant, and we could have no 
true title, until we could prove a patent from the king; neither 
had any person a right to one foot of land in New England, by 
virtue of purchase, possession, or grant of court ; but, if we 
would have assurance of our lands, we must go to the king for 
it, and get patents of it. Finding no relief, (and the Governor 
having prohibited town meetings,) we earnestly desired liberty 
for our town to meet to consult what to do in so difficult a case 
and exigency, but could not prevail ; Sir Edmund angrily telling 
us, that there was no such thing as a town in the country ; nei- 
ther should we have liberty so to meet ; neither were our an- 
cient records, as he said, which we produced for our vindication 
of our title to the said lands, worth a rush. Thus were we from 
time to lime unreasonably treated, our properties, and civil lib- 
erties, and privileges invaded, our misery and ruin threatened 
and hastened, till such time as our country, groaning under the 
unreasonable heavy yoke of Sir Edmund's government, were 
constrained forcibly to recover our rights and privileges. 

' Jeremiah Shepard, 
' John Burrill.' 

1690. The third inhabitant of Nahant, and the first perma- 
nent one, was James Mills. He had a small cottage, which 
stood in the field a few rods southeast from Whitney's ho- 
tel, wherein he resided twenty-six years. He had three chil- 
dren : Sarah, born February 27, 1675; James, born October 11, 
1678 ; and Dorothy, born April 21, 1681. A bay on the south of 
Nahant having been her favorite bathing place, is called Doro- 
thy's cove. 

The first monthly meeting of the Society of friends in Lynn, 
was held at the house of Samuel Collins, on the 18th of July. 
There were but five Lynn men present. 



1591.] HIS T O RY O F LYNN . 181 

1691 Lieutenant John BurriU was chosen Representative 
' to the great and generall court' The pay of a representative 
was three shilUngs a day. ^, i • i • i 

Mr. John BurriU, junior, was chosen Town Clerk, m wliicii 
office he continued thirty years. , -^ , i ^,^„ 

April 14. ' Clement Coldam and Joseph Hart were chosen 
cannoners, to order and look after the great guns.' 

July 13. Lieutenant John Fuller was chosen Clerk oi the 
Writs. It is thus evident, that this office was not the same as 
that of Town Clerk. 

On the northern shore of Nahant is a ledge of rock, which 
contains a portion of iron. Some of it was smelted m the 
foundry at Saugus, and more was taken for the forge at Brain- 
tree ' It was voted, that IV'Ir. Hubbard, of Braintree. should give 
three shillino-s for every ton of Rock Mine that he has from Na- 
hant, to the town, for the town's use, and he to have so much 
as the town sees convenient.' 

Mr WiUiam Bassett was Quarter Master in the militia, and 
collector of the parish taxes. People who held offices were 
generally better known by their titles, than by their ffi-st names. 
December 21. At a meeting of the Selectmen, ' Mr. Shepard, 
xvith his consent, was chosen Schoolmaster for the year en- 
suing.' Town Records. 

1692 January 8. ' It was voted, that Lieutenant Blighe 
should have liberty to set up a pew in the north east corner of 
the meeting house, by Mr. King's pew, and he to maintain the 

windows against it. ^ -,, -r • . x t •„ 

' The town did vote, that Lieutenant Fuller, Lieutenant Lewis, 
Mr John Hawkes, senior, Francis Burrill, Lieutenant Burnll, 
John Burrill, junior, Mr. Henry Rhodes, Quarter Master Bassett 
Mr. Haberfieid, Cornet Johnson, Mr. Bayley, and Lieutenant 
Blighe, should set at the table. . 

'It was voted, that Matthew Farrington, senior Henry 
Silsbee, and Joseph Mansfield, senior, should set in the deacon s 

seat. -A-i • -T) 

' It was voted, that Thomas Farrar, senior, Crispus Brewer, 
Allen Breed, senior, Clement Coldam, Robert Rand, senior, 
Jonathan Hudson, Richard Hood, senior, and Sergeant Haven, 
should set in the pulpit. . . 

' The town voted, that them that are surviving, that was 
chosen by the town a committee to erect the meeting-house, 
and Clerk Potter to join along with them, should seat the in- 
habitants of the town, in the meeting house, both men and 
women, and appoint what scats they shall set in ; but it is to 
be understood, that they are not to seat neither the table, nor 



182 H1STOE.Y OF LYNN. [1692. 

the deacon's seat, nor the pulpit, but them to set there as are 
voted by the town.' 

' The town voted that Mr. Shepard should have liberty to 
remove Mr. Shepard's pew, and to set it adjoining at the east- 
ward end of the pulpit.' 

Lieutenant John Lewis, Cornet Samuel Johnson, John Witt, 
Joseph Breed, Thomas Farrar, junior, Joseph Newhall, and 
John Burrill, junior, were chosen Selectmen, ' to order the pru- 
dential affairs of the town.' These were the first Selectmen of 
Lynn whose names are recorded in the town book. 

' The town voted, that the persons undernamed, in answer to 
their petition, should have liberty of the hindmost seat in the 
gallery to set in, and fit it up as well as they please, in the 
northeast corner, provided they do no damage in hindering the 
light of the window. Sarah Hutchins, Mary Newhall, Rebeckah 
Ballard, Susannah Collins, Rebeckah Collins, Ruth Potter, Jane 
Ballard, Sarah Farrington, Rebeckah Newhall, Elizabeth Nor- 
wood, Mary Haberfield.' t. r. 

The year 1692 has been rendered memorable in the annals of 
our country, by the great excitement and distress occasioned by 
imputed Witchcraft. It was an awful time for New England — 
superstition was abroad in her darkest habiliments, scourging the 
land, and no one but trembled before the breath of the destroyer, 
for no one was safe. It seemed as if a legion of the spirits 
of darkness had been set free from their prison house, with 
power to infect the judgment of the rulers, and to sport, in 
their wanton malice, with the happiness and the lives of the 
people. The stories of necromancy in the darkest ages of the 
world — the tales of eastern genii — the imaginary delineations 
of the poet and the romancer — wild, and vague, and horrible as 
they may seem — fall far short of the terrible realities, which 
were performed in the open daylight of New England. The 
mother at midnight pressed her unconscious children to her 
trembling bosom — and the next day she was standing before a 
court of awful men, with her life suspended on the breath of 
imagination — or barred within the walls of a prison, and guarded 
by an armed man, as if she were a thing to be feared — or 
swinging in the breeze between earth and sky, with thousands 
of faces gazing up at her, with commingled expressions of pity 
and imprecation. The father, too, returned from his work at eve, 
to his peaceful household — and in the morning he was lying 
extended on a rough plank — with a heavy weight pressing on 
his breast — till his tongue had started from his mouth — and 
his soul had gone up to Him who gave it — and all this, that he 
might be made to confess an imaginary crime. 

"The alarm of witchcraft commenced in February, in the house 
of Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem, with an Indian girl named 



1592.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 183 

Tituba. Thirteen women and five men were hnng. and two, 
Rev. Geori?e Burroughs and Giles Corey, pressed o death. 
Wuse they would "not answer or confess. More than one 
hundred others were accused and imprisoned, of whom the 
following belonged to Lynn : „ , . 4 c^ i 

1 Thomas Farrar was brought before the court, at Salem 
Mav 18 and sent to prison at Boston, where he was kept until 
November 2, more than five months. He was ari elderly man. 
and his son, Thomas Farrar, jun.. was one of the Selectmen 
this year. He lived in Nahant street, and died February 23. 

^T"Sarah Bassett was tried at Salem, May 23, and sent to 
Boston prison, where she was kept until December 3, seven 
months. She was a daughter of Richard Hood and wife of 
William Bassett. lunior, in Nahant street. She had a young 
child 22 months old, which she took with her to prison, ihe 
next 'daughter which she had after her imprisonment, she called 

' Deliverance.' , ^^ • 1 • j +^ 

3 Mary Derick, widow of Michael Derick, was carried to 
Boston prison, May 23, and kept there seven months. She was 
a daughter of William Bassett, senior. 

4 Ehzabeth Hart was arraigned and sent to Boston May 1«, 
where she was imprisoned until December 7; nearly seven 
months. She was an old lady, the wife of Isaac Hart, and died 
November 28, 1700. . , 

5 Thomas Hart, son of Elizabeth Hart, m a petition to the 
court, October 19, says 'he has been in prison ever since May, 
for imputed witchcraft, and prays to be released. 

6 Sarah Cole, the wife of John Cole, was tried at Charles- 
town, the first of February, 1693, and acquitted 

7 Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor, of Danvers, was a 
dauo-hter of William Bassett. She was condemned to death, 
but was released on account of her peculiar circumstances. Her 
husband was executed. . -ui^ „o 

That ao-ed people, as some of those were, and respectable as 
they all were, should have been subjected to long imprisonment 
and the danger of death, on the accusation of a few hoyden 
girls of uncertain reputation, influenced by wild mahce, or a 
distempered imagination, is a matter which now excites our 
wonder and pity. My readers will doubtless be anxious to know 
what was said about the accused from Lynn. It is really too 
trifling for a serious record, and only merits notice for its conse- 
quences. The following is the testimony against ihomas 

'• The deposition of Ann Putnam, who testifieth and saith ; 
that on the 8th of May, 1692, there appeared to me the 
apperishion of an old gray head man, with a great nose which 
tortored rae, and almost choaked me, and urged me to writ in his 



184 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



[1694. 



book ; and I asked him what was his name, and from whence 
he came, for I would complain of him ; and people used to call 
him old father pharaoh ; and he said he was my grandfather, for 
my father used to call him father ; but I tould him I would not 
call him grandfather, for he was a wizzard, and I would com- 
plain of him, and ever since he hath afflicted me by times, beat- 
ing me, and pinching me, and allmost choaking me, and urging 
me continewally to writ in his book.' 

The testimony against Elizabeth Hart was as follows : ' The 
deposition of Mary Wolcott, who testifieth and saith, that on the 
13th of May, 1692, I saw the apparition of Goody Hart, who 
hurt me much by pinching and choaking of me ; and urged me 
grievously to set my hand to her book, and several other times 
she has tormented me, ready to tare my body in pieces.' 

There were several other depositions, but these were the most 
important ; yet on evidence like this, respectable people were 
taken from their homes, and imprisoned more than half a year. 
It is some satisfaction to know, that some of the judges and 
jurymen afterward saw their error and regretted it. Some 
restitution was also made, by the court, to some of the sufferers. 
Mary Derick was allowed £9, being at the rate of six shillings 
a week during her imprisonment, and £5, for her goods lost ; 
and Sarah Bassett was also allowed £9. 

The first thing which opened the eyes of the prosecutors, and 
tended to put a stop to accusations, was the ' crying out ' against 
the Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, minister of the church at Lynn, as 
a wizard I Every body saw the absurdity of the charge, and 
the court were convinced that if the matter proceeded much 
farther, themselves might not be safe. 

In reflecting on this subject, it should be remembered, that 
people at that time generally believed in witchcraft. It was 
part of their religion, and under such a misconception of scrip- 
ture, the shghtest indications were proof The more absurd, 
improbable, and even impossible a thing was, the more certain 
it appeared — for many people very wisely conclude, that no one 
would assert an impossibility, unless it were true ! We wonder 
at the delusion of those days — but is there no mist before our 
eyes at present? 

1694. The society of Friends having increased, Mr. Shep- 
ard became alarmed at their progress, and appointed the nine- 
teenth of July, as a day of fasting and prayer, ' that the spiritual 
plague might proceed no further.' 

At a town meeting on the twenty-fifth of July ; ' The consta- 
bles personably appearing, and declaring that they had all warned 
their several parts of the town, according to their warrants, 
and so many being absent from said meeting ; the town did then 



1695.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 185 

vote and give power to Jacob Kniglit, in belialf of the town, to 
prosecute against any and every person or persons, that has not 
attended this meeting, according to the bye-laws, or town orders.' 
Tlic practice prevailed for many years, of warning out of the 
town, by a formal mandamus of the selectmen, every family 
and individual, rich or poor, who came into it. This was done 
to exonerate the town from any obligation to render support in 
case of ])overty. One old gentleman, who had just arrived in 
town, to whom this order was read, took it for a real intimation 
to depart. ' Come wife,' he says, ' we must pack up. But 
there — we have one consolation for it — it is not so desirable a 
place I ' 

1695. The property of the Nahants which had been a cause 
of contention from the first settlement of the town, were this 
year claimed by the heiresses of Ptichard Woody, of Boston; 
into whose claim they probably descended by a mortgage of one 
of the sagamores, in lGo2. At a town meeting, on the eighteenth 
of October, ' There being a summons read, wherein was signi- 
fied that the lands called Nahants were attached by Mrs. Mary 
Dafiern of Boston, and James Mills summoned to answer said 
Daffern at an inferior court, to be holden in the county of Essex 
on the last Tuesday of December, 1695; the town did then 
choose Lieutenant Samuel Johnson, Joseph Breed, and John 
Burrill, junior, to defend the interests of the town in the lands 
called Nahants, and to employ an attorney or attorneys, as they 
shall see cause, in the town's behalf, against the said DafFern, 
and so from court to court, till the cause be ended — they or 
either of them — and the town to bear the charge.' 

The following is transcribed from the records of the Quarterly 
Court, December thirty-first. 

' Mrs. Mary DafFern and Mrs. Martha Padishall, widows, and 
heiresses of Pdchard Woodey, late of Boston, deceased, plain- 
tiffs, versus John At will, junior, of Lynn, in an action of tres- 
pass upon the case, &c., according to writ, dated 30th September, 
1 695. The plaintifls being called three times, made default, and 
are nonsuited. The judgment of tb.e court is, that plaintiffs pay 
unto the defendants costs.' This is the last we hear of any 
claim made upon the Nahants, as individual property. 

1696. January 13. ' The Selectmen did agree with Mr. 
[Abraham] Normenton to be Schoolmaster for the town, for the 
year ensuing ; and the town to give him five pounds for his 
labor ; and the town is to pay twenty-five shillings towards the 
hire of Nathaniel NewhaU's house to keep school in, and the 
said Mr. Normenton to hire the said house.' 

Immense numbers of great clams were thrown upon the 
21 



1S6 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1697. 

beaches by storms. The people were permitted, by a vote of 
the town, to dig and gather as many as they wished for their 
own use, but no more ; and no person was allowed to carry any 
out of the toAvn, on a penalty of twenty shillings. The shells 
were gathered in cart loads on the beach, and manufactured 
into lime. 

This year, two Quakers, whose names were Thomas Farrar 
and John Hood, for refusing to pay parish taxes, suffered nearly 
one month's imprisonment at Salem. 

The winter of this year was the coldest since the first settle- 
ment of New England. 

1697. On the eighth of January, the town, by vote, set the 
prices of provisions, to pay Mr. Shepard's salary, as follows : 
Beef, 3d. ; pork, 4d. a pound. Indian corn, 5s. ; barley, barley 
malt, and rye, 5s. 6d; and oats, 2s. a bnshel. 

The blackbirds had to keep a bright look out this year, as the 
whole town were up in arms against them. 

March 6. ' The town did vote, that every householder in the 
town should, some time before the fifteenth day of May next, kill 
or cause to be killed, twelve blackbirds, and bring the heads of 
them, at or before the time aforesaid, to Ebenezer Stocker's, or 
Samuel Collins's, or Thomas Burrage's, or John Gowing's, who 
are appointed and chose by the town to receive and take account 
of the same, and take care this order be duly prosecuted ; and if 
any householder as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to kill and 
bring the heads of twelve blackbirds, as aforesaid, every such 
person shall pay three pence for every blackbird that is wanting 
as aforesaid, for the use of the town.' 

1698. On the fourth of January, Oliver Elkins and Thomas 
Darling killed a wolf in Lynn woods. On the twenty-eighth of 
February, Thomas Baker killed two wolves. This year also, 
James Mills killed five foxes on Nahant. Twenty shillings 
were allowed by the town for killing a wolf, and two shillings 
for a fox. 

The town ordered that no person should cut more than seven 
trees on Nahant, under a penalty of forty shillings for each tree 
exceeding that number. 

June 1. The court enacted ' that no person using or occu- 
pying the feat or mystery of a butcher, currier, or shoemaker, by 
himself or any other, shall use or exercise the feat or mystery of 
a Tanner, on pain of the forfeiture of six shillings and eight 
pence for every hide or skin so tanned.' They also enacted 
that no Tanner should exercise the business of a butcher, currier, 
or shoemaker. ' And no butcher shall gash or cut any hide, 
whereby the same shall be impaired, on pain of forfeiting twelve 
pence for every gash or cut.' It was also enacted that no 



1699.] HISTORY OF lynn. 157 

* shoemaker or cordwainer shall work into Shoes, Boots, or other 
wares, any leather that is not tanned and curried as aforesaid ; 
nor shall use any leather made of horse's hide for the inner sole 
of any such shoes or boots on pain of forfeiting all such shoes 
and boots.' 

1699. The platform of the meeting-house was covered 
with lead. The bell was taken down, and sent to England to 
be exchanged for a new one. Mr. Shepard's salary was reduced 
to sixty pounds. 

On the seventh of November, the town ordered that any 
person who should follow the wild fowl in the harbor, in a canoe, 
to shoot at them, or frighten them, should pay twenty shillings ; 
and Thomas Lewis and Timothy Breed were chosen to enforce 
the order. 

1700. On the twenty-fifth of May, Mr. John Witt killed a 
wolf. 

At a meeting of the Selectmen on the seventh of June, Mr. 
Shepard was chosen to keep a grammar-school ; for which thirty 
pounds were the next year allowed. 

1702. On the sixteenth of March, Mr. Walter Phillips 
killed a wolf. 

On the fourteenth of December, ten pounds were allowed for 
the maintenance of a grammar-master; 'and such master to 
have, over and above the said ten pounds, 2 pence per week 
for such as are sent to read, 3 pence per week for them 
that are sent to write and cipher, and 6 pence per week 
for them that are sent to learn Latin, to be paid by parents and 
masters that send their children or servants to learn as aforesaid.' 

1704. This year another war was prosecuted with the 
French and Indians, called Queen Anne's War. It was begun 
by the Indians in the preceding year, and was productive of the 
most dreadful cruelty. Several of the soldiers from Lynn were 
taken prisoners. It continued about a year. 

Colonel Benjamin Church, who commanded in this expedi- 
tion, wrote a letter to Governor Dudley, requesting, ' That four 
or five hundred pair of good Indian shoes be made ; and let 
there be a good store of cow-hides, well tanned, for a supply of 
such shoes, and hemp to make thread, and wax, to mend and 
make more such shoes when wanted, and a good store of awls.' 

On the sixth of March, the town, 'being informed that several 
persons hail cut down several trees or bushes in Nahants, 
whereby there is like to be no shade for the creatures,' voted 
that no person should cut any tree or bush there, on a penalty of 
ten shillings. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Nahant and Woodlands divided — The Great Snow— Hon. John Burrill— The 
Cold Winter — John Adam Dagyr, the Shoemaker — Notices of Ministers ; Shep- 
ard, Sparhawk, Whitefield, Cheever, Chase, Henchman. 1706 to 176i. 

There is a tear for all who die, 

A mourner o'er the humblest grave i 
Eut nations swell the funeral cry. 

And triumph weeps above the" biave. 




AHANT, and the great range of woodland in 
the north of the town, had from the first set- 
tlement, been retained in common. The 
same spirit of practical democracy which had 
influenced the people at the beginning, was 
carried out through all their public affairs. 
Nahant was used as a common pasture, where 
any one who chose, put cattle and sheep, 

^ which were tended by a person, chosen and 

paid by the town, called a shepherd. In like manner the great 
woodlands had been reserved for common use, and the people 
cut their fuel in such quantities as they pleased in the wood- 
lands nearest their dwellings. If any required timber for build- 
ing, they selected the fine old oaks that plumed the craggy clifls, 
and the tall straight trunks which grew in the dark pine forests, 
to make into boards at the saw mill. But now the people had 
so increased, and the limits of their cultivated lands became so 
permanently established, that they concluded it would be best 
to have some more definite regulations for their government in 
future. 



1706. On the fifteenth of April, a town meeting was held, 
when it was resolved to make a division of the public lands, 
only resei-ving the training field, which is now called the Com- 
mon. They chose a committee of three persons from other 
towns, to make the division, whom they directed to allow each 
proprietor at least one-fourth upland, and as near his own house 
as might be. The committee were Captain Samuel Gardner 
of Salem, John Greenland of Maiden, and Joseph Hasey of 
Chelsea. 



1706.1 H 1 s T o n Y or I. VNN'. 189 

' We whose names are hereunto siibscnbed, having been 
chosen by the Towne Lyn, at a Towne Mectnig held April 
15th 170G as a committee to Divide all the Undivided Common 
Lands within the Towne of Lyn, aforesaid, by such rules, and 
in such way and manner as shall be agreed upon by ns ; we 
havincT aoreed and made Division of the Common Undivided 
Lands too and amongst all the proprietors and Inhabitants that 
have land of their own in fee, according to said Towne \ oate, so 
far as appeared to ns. The way and manner of our Division, 
and that which we have agreed upon to make our rules by, are 
as followeth. » 

' We llrst obtained of the Selectmen of said Lyn, a copy ot 
the List of Estate taken by them in 1705, which list being hrst 
perfected and made intelhgible to ns by the Selectmen through 
our desire, by their bringing each person's land to the Kight 
owner, and by adding such to said List, that by Reason of pov- 
erty or others being in captivity, had been left out of said List, 
that soe we might come to the knowledge of all the proprietors 
and Inhabitants that have Lands of theire owne m fee; we 
havin<T made division of the aforesaid Common Lands accord- 
ing to' what each proprietor and Inhabitant have of Lands upon 
said List. 

1. 'We first taking out, according to the best Information we 
could obtaine, all such as had houses erected since the year 
1694, who are privihdged for so much and no more than what 
each' person bathe of Lands upon said List. 

2. ' A second Rule by which we make division is, that all 
such as have upon said List foure acres of Land or any Less 
quantity, to have priviledg for five acres ; and all such as have 
five acres to have privilidg for six acres; and all such as have 
six acres to have privilidg for seven acres ; and all such as have 
seven acres to have privilidg for eight acres ; and no person to 
receive advantage any further for any more than for what they 
have upon said List. 

3. • A third Rule of our Division is, that all such as have upon 
said List any greater number of acres than eight, till they come 
to twenty acres, counting two acres of pasture land for one ot 
tilli'^e Land ; we finding them to be Rated but half soe much ior 
pasUire Land as for tillige or Improved Lands ; are privihged 
according to the number of acres they have on the List. 

4. 'A fourth Rule is, that all those that have above twenty 
acres upon said List, until they come to thirty acres, shall re- 
ceive privilidg but for one-fourth part of all they have above 
twenty acres ; and for what land any person halhe on said List 
above thirty acres, shall receive priviledg but for one eighth 
part of what is above thirty acres. 

5. ' And whereas we, the aforesaid Committe, according to 



190 HISTORYOFLYNN. [1706. 

said Towne voate, are to Leave convenient ways in all places, 
as we shall think fitt, we have agreed that, by reason of the 
Impossibility of making highways passable, if Laid upon the 
Range Lines, Doe therefore order, that all the propriators con- 
cerned, their heirs and assigns forever, to have free Liberty to 
pass and Repass over each person's Lotts, that is laid out by us 
on the commons, with carts and teams, to transport wood, tim- 
ber and stones, or upon any other ocation whatsoever, in such, 
places as may be convenient, without any molestation, hin- 
drance, or Interruption from any of the propriators, their heirs or 
assigns, but no person to Damnific his neighbor by Cutting 
Downe his tree or trees. 

' We have left a highway over Little Nahant two poles wide 
on the west end, and soe Runing over the beach unto Great 
Nahant; and soe on the southwardly side of the hill to about ten 
pole above the Calf Spring, and running slanting up the hill 
into the old \vay, and soe runing on the northeast end of James 
Mills his land, and soe on to the first Range in the ram pasture ; 
and have left about one acre of land joining to the highway by 
the Spring, to accomidate Cattle coming to the Spring. We 
have also left a highway, two pole wide from the highway by 
the Spring, ouer into Bass neck, and soe through the Ranges to 
the southermost Range on said neck. We have also left a 
highway, two pole wide, on the Bay side, over to Bass neck, 
and so ouer Mr. Taylor's lott, Joseph Jacob's lott, and Moses 
Hudson's Lott, unto the other highway ; and have left a high- 
way one pole wide over the westward end of each Range on 
great Nahant; and a highway one pole wide, one the north- 
wardly end of each Range on Bass neck ; and a highway one 
pole wide ouer between the range of lots, halfe a pole on each 
Range, on each side of the Range Line on Little Nahant. 

' Thus we make Returne of this our Doings, this first Day of 
January, 170G-7. 

Samuel Gardner, 
John Greenland, 
Joseph Hasey.' 

On the 28th September, ' The towne considering the great 
difficulty of laying out highways on the common lands, by rea- 
son of the swamps, hills, and rockenes of the land, theirfore 
voated, that after said common lands shall be divided, every 
person interested tlierein, shall have free liberty at all times, to 
pass and repass over each others' lotts of lands, to fetch their 
wood and such other things as shall be upon their lands, in any 
place or places, and for no other ends, provided they do not cut 
downe any sort of tree or trees in their so passing over.' Eleven 
persons entered their dissent to this vote, but do not state whether 



1712.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 191 

it was against the privilege, or its limitation. Men frequently 
want to pass on to their lots for other ])urposes than to fetch wood ; 
and in many places in the woods, if they had not cut down a 
tree, it would have been utterly impossible ever to have gone 
upon their lots at all with a carriage. If this vote were a law, 
many proprietors on Nahant even now, could not go upon their 
lands to plant or build. But the warrant for calling this meeting 
is unrecorded. 

The Common Lands were laid out by the committee in 
' Seven Divisions.' The First Division began on the west of 
Saugus river, including what was called the six hundred acres, 
which were then in Lynn. The Second Division ran across 
the northern part of the town, and the Seventh Division was 
Nahant. 

There is no record that the report of the committee was 
accepted, though it probably was, as it was recorded, with all 
the separate lots and owners' names. The woodlands and the 
Nahants were laid out in Ranges, forty rods in width, and these 
were divided into lots, containing from about one eighth of an acre 
to eight acres. Many of these lots were afterward subdivided 
among heirs, so that many lots on Nahant are now six hundred 
and sixty feet long, and from two feet to eight feet wide. This 
renders it impossible in many places to obtain a building lot, 
without purchasing of many owners. Several lots are as narrow 
as two feet and three inches, and for each of these a separate 
deed must be written. I have constructed a complete map of 
Nahant on a very large scale, on which the lots are shown with 
the names of the original proprietors and the present owners. 

1712. That part of the town now called Lynnfield, was set 
off as a parish, or district, on the seventeenth of November. 
The inhabitants were to be freed from j)arish taxes, as soon as 
a meeting-house should be built, and a minister settled. The 
people of Lynnfield, in the town records, are called ' our neigh- 
bors, the farmers.' 

This year, all the shells, which came upon the Nahant beaches, 
were sold by the town, to Daniel Browm, and William Gray, for 
thirty shillings. They were not to sell the shells for more than 
eight shillings a load, containing forty-eight bushels, heaped 
measure. The people were permitted to dig and gather the 
clams as before, but they were required to open them on the 
beach, and leave the shells. The house in which I was born, 
was plastered with lime made from these shells. 

1713. Mr. John Morriam was employed as schoolmaster. 
The "scliool was called a grammar school, because Latin was 
taught in it. The other studies were reading, writing, and 



132 II I S T R Y O F L Y N N . [1715. 

ciphering. English grammar was not a common study, and no 
book on that subject was introduced into general use, till about 
seventy years after this time. No arithmetic was used by the 
scholars, but the master wrote all the sums on the slate. No 
spelling book was used. The reading books were the New 
Testament, and the Psalms of David — the translation of which 
is found in the Prayer Book of the church. 

1715. The first meeting-house in the second parish, now 
Lynnfield, was built. When the building of the first parish 
meeting-house was in contemplation, the people of the northern 
part of the town, being obliged to travel six or eight miles to 
meeting, wished to have the house placed in a central situation, 
and a committee was appointed to ' chuse ' a place. They 
selected a hill, now included in the bounds of Saugus, which 
was thence called Harmony Hill. It was afterward determined 
to place the house on the Common, and the people of Lynn- 
field continued to attend meeting there till this year. 

1716. A gentleman whose name was Bishop, was school- 
master. Mr. Ebenezer Tarbox was chosen, by the town, as 
Shepherd. Three porches were added to the first parish meet- 
ing-house ; and a curiously carved and panelled oak pulpit, 
imported from England, was set up. 

1717. Two great storms, on the twentieth and twenty- 
fourth of February, covered the ground so deep with snow, that 
people for some days could not pass from one house to another. 
Old Indians, of an hundred years, said that their fathers had 
never told them of such a snow. It was from ten to twenty feet 
deep, and generally covered the lower story of the houses. Cot- 
tages of one story were entirely buried, so that the people dug 
paths from one house to another, under the snow. Soon after, 
a slight rain fell, and the frost crusted the snow ; and then the 
people went out of their chamber windows, and walked over it. 
Many of the farmers lost their sheep ; and most of the sheep and 
swine which were saved, lived from one to two weeks without 
food. One man had some hens buried near his barn, which 
were dug out alive eleven days after. .During this snow, a great 
number of deer came from the woods for food, and were fol- 
lowed by the wolves, which killed many of them. Others were 
killed by the people Math guns. Some of the deer fled to Na- 
hant, and being chased by the wolves, leaped into the sea, and 
were drowned. Great damage was done to the orchards, by the 
snow freezing to the branches, and splitting the trees as it fell. 
This snow formed a renuirkaltle era in Noav England ; and old 
people, in rcl'.iting an event, would sjiy that it hnjipened so many 



I 7 17. J K I S T O R Y O F 1. Y X N . 1 93 

years before or after the great snow. Hon. John Wnithrop says : 
' We lost at the island and farms above 1100 sheep, beside some 
horses and cattle interred in the snow ; and it was very strange, 
that 28 days after the storm, the inhabitants of Fisher's Island, 
in pulling out the ruins of 100 sheep, out of the snow bank in 
the valley, where the snow had drifted over them sixteen feet, 
found two of them alive in the drift, which had lain on them all 
that time, and kept themselves alive by eating the wool off the 
others.' The mail was nine days in reaching Portsmouth, and 
eight in returning. 

The town tax this year was £237. Mr. Shcpard's salary was 
eighty-seven pounds ; and the rest was for the school, and other 
town debts. 

It was in one of the great storms this year, that Samuel Bel- 
lamy's pirate ship, the Whidah, of 23 guns and 130 men, was 
wrecked on Cape Cod, and more than one hundred dead bodies 
were found on the shore. Six of the survivors were afterwards 
executed at Boston. 

This year Nahant was again without an inhabitant ; James 
Mills being dead, and his family removed. His house and land 
became the property of Dr. John Henry Burchsted, who, on the 
eighteenth of December, sold it to Samuel Breed. He built a 
house where Whitney's Hotel now stands. He was very small 
in stature, and was generally called ' Governor Breed.' He was 
born November 11, 1692, married Deliverance Bassett, June 25, 
1720, (the same who was mentioned as a child in 1692,) and 
had five children ; Anna, Sarah, Huldah, Nehemiah, and Wil- 
liam. His house became the property of his son, Nehemiah, 
and his grandson William, by whom it v/as rebuilt in 1S19. 
For twenty-four years this house was kept as a Hotel, by Jesse 
Rice ; and was purchased, in 1841, by Albert Whitney. 

Jabez Breed, brother of Samuel, soon after removed to Na- 
hant and built a house directly opposite. A few years after- 
ward, Fuchard Hood exchanged his Iiouse in Nahant street for 
this. He married Theodate Collins, May 20, 1718, and had 
eight children ; Theodate, Jedediah, Content, Rebecca, Hannah, 
Patience, Abner and Abigail. His descendants still live at 
Nahant on the estate of their ancestor. 

The third house on Nahant was built by Jeremiah Gray, a 
carpenter, and uncle of Lieutenant Governor William Gray. 
This house, about the year 1770, was sold to Jonathan Johnson, 
and is now occupied by his son Caleb Johnson. 

These were the only three houses on Nahant until the year 
1803. Their occupants were Quakers, and kept no taverns, but 
accommodated a tew boarders, in the summer, and occasionally 
made a fish chowder, for parties who visited Nahant from Boston 
and other plnces. 

25 



194 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1718. 

1718. In the beginning of this year, Mr. Shepard was un- 
well ; and a gentleman, whose name was Townsend, was em- 
ployed to preach five sermons ; for which the town paid him 
fifty shillings. The Selectmen, on the fifth of March, were 
directed to employ a schoolmaster; and in their agreement 
with him, 'to have relation to some help for Mr. Shepard in 
preaching.' 

According to tradition — which may not very safely be relied 
on in matters of importance, thongh it may assist in delineating 
manners and customs, it was about this time that potatoes were 
first introduced into Lynn. Mr. John Newhall received two or 
three, which he planted ; and when he gathered the produce, 
a few of them were roasted and eaten, merely from curiosity; 
and the rest were put into the shell of a gourd, and hung up in 
the cellar. The next year he planted them all, and had enough 
to fill a two bushel basket. He knew not what to do with so 
many, and gave some of them to his neighbors. Soon after, 
one of them said to him : ' Well, I have found that potatoes are 
good for something. I had some of them boiled, and ate them 
wilh fish, and they rehshed very well.' It was several years 
after this, before potatoes came into general use, and then only 
in small quantities. A farmer, who kept a very particular 
account of every day's employment, first mentions ' patatas,' as 
a common article, in 1733. 

At this time, tea was little used, and teakettles were unknown. 
The water was boiled in a skillet ; and when the ladies went to 
visiting parties, each one carried her teacup, saucer, and spoon. 
The teacups were of the best china, and very small, containing 
about as much as a common wine glass. Coffee did not come 
into use until many years after. 

1719. The northern lights were first mentioned this year, 
on the seventeenth of December. The people were much 
alarmed at their appearance. The northern hemisphere seemed 
to be on fire ; and it is said that the coruscations were distinctly 
heard, like the rusthng of a silken banner. 

1720. The Rev. Jeremiah Shepard was the fourth son of 
the Rev. Thomas Shepard, minister of Cambridge ; who came 
from Towcester, in England, in 1635. His mother, who was 
his father's third wife, was Margaret Boradile. He was born at 
Cambridge, August 11th, 1648; and graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1669. He was the first minister of Lynn, who was born 
and educated in America. His brother Thomas was minister of 
Charlestown, and his brother Samuel minister of Rowley. In 
1675, he preached as a candidate at Rowley, after the death of 
his brother; and in 1678, at I})swich. He came to Lynn in 



1720.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 19t5 

1G79, during the sickness of Mr. Whiting; and was ordained on 
the sixth of October. 1680. He was admitted a freeman in the 
same year. He resided, at first, in the street which has been 
called by his name ; and afterward built a house, which was 
burnt down, on the north side of the Common, a little distance 
eastward from Mr. George Brackett's. In 1689, he was chosen 
representative to the general court; and this is perhaps the only 
instance in the early history of New England, in which a min- 
ister of the gospel sustained that otlice. He died on the ' third ' 
of June, 1720, aged seventy-two ; having preached at Lynn forty 
years. 

The life of Mr. Shepard was distinguished by his unvaried 
piety. He was one of those plain and honest men, who adorn 
their station by spotless purity of character ; and has left a name 
to which no one can annex an anecdote of mirth, and which no 
one attempts to sully by a breath of evil. He was indefatiga- 
ble in his exertions for the spiritual welfare of his people; but 
his dark and melancholy views of human nature tended greatly 
to contract the circle of his usefulness. It is the practice of 
many who attempt to direct us in the way of truth, that, instead 
of laying open to us the inexhaustible stores of happiness, which 
the treasury of the Gospel affords — instead of drawing aside the 
veil which conceals from man's darkened heart the inexpressible 
joys of the angelic world, and inducing us to follow the path of 
virtue, from pure affection to Him who first loved us — they 
give unlimited scope to the wildest imaginations that ever trav- 
ersed the brain of a human being, and plunge into the unfathom- 
able abyss of superstition's darkness, to torture the minds of the 
living by stirring up the torments of the dead, and driving us to 
the service of God, by unmingled fear of his exterminating 
wrath. It is not requisite for the prevalence of truth; that we 
should be forever familiar with the shadows that encompass it. 
The mind may dwell ujion darkness until it has itself become 
dark, and callous to improvement — or reckless and despairing 
of good. That Mr. Shepard's views of human nature, and of the 
dispensation of the Gospel, were of the darkest kind, is evident 
from the sermons which he has left; and these opinions' unfor- 
tunately led him to regard the greater part of the christian world 
as out of the way of salvation, and to look upon the crushed 
remnant of the red men as little better than the wild beasts of 
the forest. In alluding to the mortality, which prevailed among 
the Indians in 1733, he says that, ' The Lord swept away thou- 
sands of those salvage tawnies, those cursed devil worshippers.' 

His writings exhibit cccasional gleams of genius and beauty; 
but they are disfigured by frequent quotations from the dead 
languages, and by expressions inconsistent with that nobleness 
of sentiment, and purity of style, which should be sedulously 



196 HISTOKY OF LYNN. [1721. 

cultivated by the young. It was the custom in his time, to 
prolong the sermon at least one hour, and sometimes it was 
extended to two ; and a sand glass was placed on the pulpit to 
measure the time. In one of his sermons he alludes to this 
practice. ' Thou art restless till the tiresome glass be run out, 
and the tedious sermon be ended.' He published the following 
works : 

1. 'A Sort of Believers Never Saved.' Boston, 1711, 12mo. 

2. 'Early Preparations for Evil Days.' Boston, 1712, 24mo. 

3. ' General Election Sermon.' Boston, 1715, 12mo. 

The following epitaph was transcribed from his grave stone 
with much difficulty ; having become nearly obliterated by the 
dilapidations of more than one hundred years. 

' Elijah's mantle drops, the prophet dies, 

His earthly mansion quits, and mounts the skies. 

* So Shepard 's gone. 

His precious dust, death's prey, indeed is here. 
But 's nobler breath 'moiig: seraphs does appear ; 
He joins the adoring crowds about the throne, 
He 's conquered all, and now he wears the crown.' 

The name of Mr. Shepard's wife was Mary. She died March 
28, 1710, aged -53 years. He had nine children, 1. Hannah, born 
1G76, married John Downing of Boston, 1698. 2. Jeremiah, born 
1677, died 1700. 3. Mehetabel, died 1688. 4. Nathaniel, born 
June 16, 1681, removed to Boston. 5. Margaret, died 1683. 
6. Thomas, born August 1, 1687, died 1709. 7. Francis, died 
1692. 8. John, married Alice Tucker, 1722. 9. Mehetabel 
second, married Rev. James Allin of Brookline, 1717. 

Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, who had been invited, in Febru- 
ary, to settle as a colleague with Mr. Shepard, was ordained min- 
ister of the first parish in December. His salary was £115; and 
he received £160, as a settlement. Twenty persons, ' called 
Quakers,' were exempted, some entirely and others in part, from 
the payment of parish taxes. 

Rev. Nathaniel Sparhawk was ordained minister of the second 
parish, now Lynnfield, on the seventeenth of August. His sal- 
ary was seventy pounds. 

Mr. John Lewis was master of the Grammar School. The 
school was kept in four places; on the Common, at Wood End, 
in the west parish, and in the north parish. 

1721. The general Coiu-t, of the preceding year, ordered 
fifty thousand pounds to be emitted in bills of credit. Of this, 
Lynn received £121, 4, as its proportion, which was loaned at 
five per cent. This money, which was afterward called Old 

* This line is thus on the monument. 



1721.] n I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 197 

Tenor, soon began to depreciate; and in H-IO, forty-live shil- 
lings were estimated at one dollar. 

The small pox prevailed in New England. In Boston more 
than eight hundred persons died. If the small pox of 1633 was 
a judgment upon the Indians, for their erroneous worship, was 
not this equally a judgment npon the inhabitants of Boston? 
Some men are very free in dealing out the judgments of God to 
their enemies, while they contrive to escape from the conse- 
quence of their own reasoning. If a misfortune comes upon one 
who diifers from their opinions, it is the vengeance of heaven ; 
but when the same misfortune becomes their own, it is only a 
trial. One might suppose that the observation of Solomon, that 
' all things happen alike to all men,' and that still more pertinent 
remark of our Saviour, respecting the tower of Siloam, would 
teach men understanding. (Luke 13:4.) But though he spoke 
so plainly, how many do not rightly understand the doctrine of 
that inimitable Teacher. 

The Honorable John Burrill died of the small pox, on the 
tenth of December, aged 63 years. He was born on the fif- 
teenth of October, 1658, and lived on the western side of Willis's 
hill. He married Maiy Stowers of Chelsea, on the twenty eighth 
of July, 1650, and left no children. He was Town Clerk for 
thirty years, and was twenty one times elected Representative. 
He was Speaker of the House for several years, and at the time 
of his death was a Counsellor. He gained a reputation which 
few men who have since filled his stations, have surpassed. 
The purity of his character, and the integrity of his life, secured 
to him the warmest friendship of his acquaintance, and the un- 
limited confidence of his native town. He was affable in his 
manners, and uniformly prudent in his conduct. His disposition 
was of the most charitable kind, and his spirit regulated by the 
most guarded temperance. He willingly continued in the House 
many years, when he might have been raised to a more elevat- 
ed office; and his thorough acquaintance with the forms of leg- 
islation, the dignity of his deportment, and the order which he 
maintained in debate, gave to him a resi)ect and an influence, 
which probably no other Speaker of the House ever obtained. 
Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, compares 
him to the celebrated WiUiam Pitt, speaker of the English 
House of Commons. The following ei)itaph is on his grave 
stone. 

'Alas! our patron 's dead ! The country — court — 
The church — in tears, all echo the report ; 
Grieved that no piety, no mastering sense. 
No counsel, gravity, no elof|ueiice, 
Ko generou.s temper, gravitating to 
Tiiose honors, which they did upon him throw, 
Could stay his fate, or their dear Burrill save 
From a contagious sicknesi, and the grave. 



198 H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . [1722. 

The adjacent towns this loss reluctant bear, 
But widowed Lynn sustains the greatest share ; 
Yet joys in being g^uardian of his dust, 
Until the Resurrection of the Just.' 

1722. Between the years 1G98 and 1722, there were killed 
in Lynn woods, and on Nahant, four hundred and twenty eight 
foxes ; for most of which the town paid two shilhngs each. In 
1720, the town voted to pay no more for killing them, and the 
number since this time is unrecorded. We have also no ac- 
count of the immense multitude which were killed during the 
first seventy years of the town. If these animals were as plenty 
in the neighborhood of Zorah, as they were at Lynn, Sampson 
probably had little difficulty in obtaining his alleged number. 

1724. The eastern Indians recommenced their hostilities 
early in the spring. On the 17th of April they attacked a sloop 
from Lynn, lying at the mouth of Kennebunk river, commanded 
by Captain John Felt, of Lynn, who went there for a load of 
spars. He had engaged two young men, William Wormwood 
and Ebenezer Lewis to assist him. While standing on the raft, 
Captain Felt was shot dead. Lewis fled to the mill, when a 
ball struck him on the head and killed him instantly. The ball 
was afterward found to be flattened. Wormwood ran ashore, 
closely pursued by several Indians, and with his back to a 
sttunp defended himself with the butt of his musket, until he 
was killed by several balls. They were all buried in the field 
near Butler's rocks, and Captain Felt's grave stones were stand- 
ing but a few years since. 

1726. A ship yard was open at Lynn, where the wharves 
have since been built, near Liberty Square. Between this year 
and 1741, two brigs and sixteen schooners were built. Colhns's 
Journal. It is said, that before the first schooner was launched, 
a great number of men and boys were employed, with pails, in 
filling her with water, to ascertain if she was tight. 

1727- An earthquake happened on the twenty ninth of 
October, about twenty minutes before eleven, in the evening. 
The noise was like the roaring of a chimney on fire, the sea 
was violently agitated, and the stone walls and chimneys were 
thrown down. Shocks of earthquakes were continued for many 
weeks; and between this time and 1744, the Bev. Mathias 
Plant, of Newbury, has recorded nearly two hundred shocks, 
some of which were loud and violent. 

The town, on the twenty second of November, fixed the pri- 
ces of grain ; wheat at Gs., barley and rye at 5s., Indian corn at 
3s., and oats at Is. 6d. a bushel. 



1728.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 199 

1728. The general court having, the preceding year, issued 
sixty thousand pounds more, in bills of credit, the town received 
£.130, 4, as its proportion, which was loaned at four per cent. 

A school house was built in Laighton's lane, now Franklin, 
street. 

1729. A great snow storm happened on the fifteenth of 
February, during Avhich there was much thunder and lightning. 

The general court was held in Salem, on the twenty eighth 
of May, in consequence of the measles at Boston. 

At the request of the first parish, Mr. Henchman relinqiushed 
his salary of £llo, trusting entirely to the generosity of the 
people for his support; in his own words, 'depending on what 
encouragement hath been given me, of the parish doing what 
may be handsome for the future.' At the end of the year, the 
contribution amounted to £143, 1, 4. 

1730. On Sunday evening, April twelfth, there was an 
earthquake. 

On Monday, August 24th, ' Governor Jonathan Belcher went 
through Lynn, and the people paid their respects to him in an 
extraordinary manner.' Collins. 

On the thirty first, Mr. Andrew Mansfield was killed in a 
well, at Lynnfield, by a stone falling on his head. 

On the twenty second of October, the northern lights appeared 
very brilliant and awful. Hashing up in red streams. 

1731. The Kev. Nathaniel Sparhawk was dismissed from 
the pastoral charge of the north parish, now Lynnfield, on the 
first of July, having preached eleven years. He was a son of 
Mr. Nathaniel Sparhawk of Cambridge. He was born in 1694, 
and graduated at Harvard College in 1715. He was ordained 
August 17, 1720 ; and died May 7, 1732 ; about one year after his 
separation from that church. A part of his people had become 
dissatisfied with him, and some, whom he considered as his 
friends, advised him to ask a dismission, in order to produce 
tranquilhty. He asked a dismission, and it was unexpectedly 
granted. A committee was then chosen to wait on him, and 
receive the church records; but he refused to deliver them. 
Soon after, he took to his bed, and is supposed to have died in 
consequence of his disappointment. I have sixteen papers of 
his hand writing, being the confessions of faith of his wife and 
other members of his church. He married Elizabeth Perkins, 
who died iMay 12, liGS, aged 08 years. He had four children. 
1. Elizabeth, 2. Nathaniel, 3. Edward Perkins Sparhawk, born 
July 10, 1728, and graduated at Harvard College in 17o3. He 



200 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1732. 

married Mehetabel Putnam, 1759. He was never ordained, 
though he preached many times in the parishes of Essex. I 
have twenty six of his manuscript sermons, and seventeen inter- 
leaved ahnanacs. He appears not to have approved the settle- 
ment of Mr. Adams as minister of the parish for which he was 
a candidate, and calls him ' old Adams, the reputed teacher of 
Lynnfield.' He is the first person whom I found in our records, 
having three names. The custom of giving an intermediate 
name seems not to have been common, till more than one hun- 
dred years after the settlement of New England. 4. John, born 
October 24, 1730, was apprenticed as a shoemaker, and after- 
ward became a physician in Philadelphia. 

Rev. Stephen Chase, of Newbury, was ordained minister of 
the second parish on the twenty fourth of November. His 
salary was one hundred pounds. 

On the third of August, the school house was removed from 
Franklin street to Water Hill. 

1732. On the fifth of September, there was an earthquake 
without noise. In October an epidemic cold affected most of 
the people in Lynn. It ranged through America, and passed to 
Europe. Collins. 

1733. A settlement was begun at Amherst, in New Hamp- 
shire, by people from Lynn. 

A memorandum respecting the town meeting, on the fifth of 
March, says : ' At this meeting we had a great debate and strife, 
so that the town was much in a hubbub.' Collins. 

1736. The first meeting house in the third parish, now 
Saugus, was built this year. On the fourth of September, 
Thomas Hawkes was drowned. 

1737. On Sunday, February 6th, there was an earthquake. 

Collms. 

At this time, there were fourteen chaises, nine vehicles called 
chairs, and one calash, owned in Lynn. 

Square toed shoes went out of fashion this year, and buckles 
began to be used. 

1738. On the thirty first of March, two houses were burnt; 
one of which belonged to Mr. Edmund Lewis, and the other to 
Mr. John Hawkes. Mr. Richard Mower was schoolmaster. The 
town tax was £119 16s. lOd. 

1739. On the third of March, Mr. Theophilus Burrill's barn 
was burnt. 



1740.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 201 

Rev. Edward Cheever was ordained minister of the third 
parish, now Saugus, on Wednesday, the fifth of December. 

Mr. Edmund Lewis and Mr. Ralph Lindsey, were chosen by 
the town, to enforce an act of the general court, to prevent the 
destruction of deer. 

1740. A fatal disease, called the throat distemper, prevailed 
in Lynn, and many fell victims to it. In October, six children 
died in one week. Collins. 

In a great snow storm, on the seventeenth of December, a 
schooner was wrecked on Nahant rocks. 

The winter was exceedingly cold, with many storms. The 
rivers were frozen in October. Snow began to fall on Thanks- 
giving day, November thirteenth, and on the fourth of April fol- 
lowing, it covered the fences. Collins. 

1741. The winter of 1741, was perhaps the coldest ever 
known in New England, since its settlement. Francis Lewis, 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove his horse from 
New York to Barnstable, the whole length of Long Island 
Sound, on the ice I 

'For these 3 weeks we have had a continued series of ex- 
treme cold weather, so that our harbors and rivers are entirely 
frozen up. On Charles river a tent is erected for the entertain- 
ment of travellers. From Point Alderton along the south shore, 
the ice is continued for the space of above 20 miles.' Boston 
Post Boy, Jan 12. 

' People ride every day from Stratford, Con. to Long Island, 
which is three leagues across, which was never known before.' 
Boston News Letter, March 5. 

' We hear that great numbers of horses, cattle and sheep are 
famishing for want of food. Three hundred sheep have died on 
Slocum's Island, and 3000 on Nantucket. Neat cattle die in 
great numbers.' Some farmers oflered half their cattle for the 
support of the rest till May, 'but in vain.' Same, March 26. 

' Dorchester, March 28. People from Thompson's Island, 
Squantum, and the adjacent neighborhood, have come fifteen 
Sabbaths successively upon the ice to our meeting.' Same, 
April 2. 

A letter dated at New London ; on the ninth of July, five days 
later than our day of Independence, says — 'There is now^ at 
Lyme, on the east side of Connecticut river, at a saw mill, a 
body of ice, as large as two carts can draw, clear and solid, and 
I believe might lay there a month longer, were it not that so 
many resort, out of curiosity, to drink punch made of it.' Same, 
July 27. 

26 



202 HISTORY OFLYNN. [1742. 

On the seventeenth of July, a mass of ' snow congealed into 
ice,' lay at Ipswich, ' nearly four foot thick.' Same, July 22. 

A difference had existed for several years, between Mr. 
Henchman and his parish, in consequence of their refusal to 
make so large an addition as he desired to his salary, on which 
he dechned to accept it. This year he offered to preach lectures 
to them gratuitously, for which he received iheir thanks, and an 
increase of his salary. 

Great commotions were excited in the neighboring towns, by 
Mr. Whitefield's preaching. In some places, meetings were 
held almost every evening ; and exhortations and prayers were 
offered by women and children, which had never before been 
done in New England. 

On the eighteenth of February, the Winnesimet ferry boat 
was overset, and a Frenchman drowned. 

1742. The Rev. George Wliitefield preached in Lynn An 
evening meeting on the eleventh of March, is thus noticed. 
' This evening sundry young persons were struck, as they call it, 
in the religious manner. This is the first of so in our town.' 
ColUns's Journal. 

On the eighteenth of June, Mr. Nathaniel Collins's house was 
struck by lightning. 

On the twelfth of October, Mr. Jonathan Norwood fell from a 
fishing boat, near Nahant, and was taken up dead. On the thir- 
teenth of July, 1643, Mr. Moses Norwood, of Lynn, was drowned 
at Boston. 

1744. On Sunday morning, June third, there was an earth- 
quake, sufficiently violent to throw down stone wall. It was 
repeated on the twentieth. Collins. 

On the fourteenth, a small company of men were impressed, 
to be sent, with other troops from Massachusetts, against the 
French and Indians, who were making depredations on the 
northern frontier. The town was furnished with a stock of 
powder, which was stored in a closet, beneath the pulpit of the 
first parish meeting house. 

On the thirty-first of December, Mr. Theophilus Merriam was 
found dead on the ice, on Saugus river. 

1745. On the evening of March ninth, there was a night 
arch. 

Rev. George Whitefield came to Lynn, on the third of July, 
and requested Mr. Henchman's permission to preach in his 
meeting-house, which was refused. Some of the people re- 
solved that he should have liberty to preach ; and taking the 
great doors from Mr. Theophilus Hallowell's barn, and placing 
them upon some barrels, they made a stage, on the eastern part 



1746.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 203 

of the Common, I'rom which he dehvered his address. He also 
dehvered a discourse, standing on the platform of the whipping 
post, near the First Parish meeting-house. After the first ap- 
plication and refusal, Mr. Henchman addressed a letter, in a 
printed pamphlet, to the Rev. Stephen Chase of Lynnfield, 
containing reasons for declining to admit Mr. Whitefield into his 
pulpit. Some of these reasons were, that Mr. Whitefield had 
disregarded and violated the most solemn vow, which he took 
when he received orders in the Church of England, and pledged 
himself to advocate and maintain her discipline and doctrine — 
that he had intruded into places where regular churches where 
established — that he used vain boasting, and theatrical gestures, 
to gain applause — that he countenanced screaming, trances, 
and epileptic fallings — that he had defamed the character of 
Bishop Tillotson, and slandered the colleges of New England. 
To this letter, Mr. William Hobby, minister of Reading, made a 
reply ; and Mr. Henchman rejoined in a second letter. The 
controversy extended throughout New England, and many 
pamphlets were written, both for and against Mr. Whitefield. 
Some good seems to have been done by him, in awakening the 
people to a higher sense of the importance of piety ; but seeking 
only to awaken them, and not to direct them to the Church, of 
which he was a minister, they were left to form new separations, 
and to build up other faiths. 

1746. On the eighteenth of August, the corn was hurt by 
a frost. 

A packet schooner, commanded by Captain Hugh Alley, 
passed from Lynn to Boston. It continued to sail for many 
years. 

1747. The Rev. Edward Cheever relinquished his connex- 
ion with the second parish, of which he had been minister for 
eight years. He was a son of Mr. Thomas Cheever, of Lynn, 
and was born May 2, 1717. He graduated at Harvard College 
in 1737, and was ordained in 1739. He removed to Eastham, 
where he died, August 24, 1794, aged 77 years. 

1749. The drought of this summer was probably never 
exceeded in New England. The preceding year had been 
unusually dry, but this was excessively so. There was but little 
rain from the sixth of May to the sixth of July. A memorandum 
in the eighteenth of .Tuly, by Collins, says : ' Extreme hot dry 
weather, such as has not been known in the memory of man — 
so scorched that the creatures can but just live for the want of 
grass.' The efiects of the drought were so great, that hay was 
imported from England. Immense multitudes of grasshoppers 



204 HISTORY OF L i' N N . [1750. 

appeared. They were so plenty on Nahant, that the inhabitants 
walked together, with bushes in their hands, and drove them by 
tliousands into the sea. 

1750. John Adam Dagyr,* a shoemaker, from Wales, came 
to Lynn. He was one of the best workmen for ladies' shoes, 
who had ever appeared in the town. At the time of his arrival, 
the business of shoemaking at Lynn was very limited, and the 
workmen unskilful. There were but three men who conducted 
the business so extensively as to employ journeymen. These 
were John Mansfield, Benjamin Newhall, and William Gray, 
grandfather of William Gray, Lieut. Gov. of Massachusetts. 
The workmen had frequently obtained good shoes from Eng- 
land, and taken them to pieces, to discover how they were made. 
By the instruction of Mr. Dagyr, they were soon enabled to pro- 
duce shoes nearly equal to the best imported from England. 
Shoemakers, from all parts of the town, went to him for infor- 
mation; and he is called, in the Boston Gazette of 1764, 'the 
celebrated shoemaker of Essex.' He resided in that part of the 
town called Mansfield's End. He married Susannah Newhall, 
in 1761; and had three children, Caroline, Sarah, and Joseph. 
Like many who have consulted the public interest more than 
their own, he was poor, and died in the Lynn Alms House, in 
1808. 

On the night of July 2, Mr. Robert Mansfield's house, near the 
Flax pond, was struck by lightning. 

1751. On the eighth of February, Captain Benjamin Blaney, 
of Swampscot, fell from his horse at Maiden, and was taken up 
dead. 

1752. Rev. Joseph Roby was ordained minister of the third 
parish, now Saugus, in August. 

The school house was removed from Water Hill, to its for- 
mer place in Franklin street, on the twenty-ninth of September ; 
and on the twenty-seventh of November, it was again removed 
to the eastern part of the common. 

The Selectmen were allowed two shillings a day for their 
services. Dr. Nathaniel Henchman was schoolmaster. 

1753. Many sheep having been killed by wild animals, the 
people assembled on the sixth of August, and ranged through the 
woods, to kill the wolves and foxes. On the twenty seventh, a 
great number of the inhabitants of Lynn, Salem, and Reading, 
met, and spent the day, in endeavoring to clear the forest of them. 



* A "Welsh word, signifying a tear. 



1755.] HISTOKY OF LYNN. 205 



1755. A shop on the Common, belonging to Mr. Benjamin 
James, was burnt, on the fourth of February. On the twenty- 
fourth, a schooner, from Salem, was cast away on Short Beach, 
at Nahant. Collins. 

On Sunday, April twenty-seventh, the Society of Friends, for 
the first time, had two meetings in one day. Collins. 

Kev. Stephen Chase resigned the care of the second parish, 
now Lynnfield. He graduated at Harvard University, in 1728 ; 
and was ordained November 24, 1731. He married Jane Win- 
get of Hampton, in 1732; and his children, born at Lynn, were, 
Abraham, Stephen, Jane, Stephen second, and Mary. He 
removed to Newcastle, in New Hampshire, where he settled 
and died. 

Mr. Benjamin Adams was ordained minister of the second 
parish, on the fifth of November. 

The greatest earthquake ever known in New England, hap- 
pened on Tuesday, the eighteenth of November, at fifteen 
minutes after four, in the morning. It continued about four 
minutes. Walls and chirnnies were thrown down, and clocks 
stopped. On the following Saturday there was another earth- 
quake. Collins. On the first of this month Lisbon was destroyed. 

A whale, seventy-five feet in length, was landed on King's 
Beach, on the nintla of December. Dr. Henry Burchsted rode 
into his mouth, in a chair drawn by a horse ; and afterward had 
two of his bones set up for gate posts, at his house in Essex 
street, where they stood for more than fifty years. 

In the eastern French and Indian war. Governor LawTence 
of Nova Scotia sent to Massachusetts, in the course of two years, 
about 2000 French Catholic Neutrals, who were quartered in 
different places. Lynn had fourteen. Thomas Lewis supplied 
them with provisions ; and among the items of his bill are 432 
quarts of milk, at six pence a gallon. The war continued until 
1763. 

1756. The manuscript of Dr. John Perkins gives a long 
and particular relation of a singular encounter of wit, had be- 
tween Jonathan Gowen of Lynn, and Joseph Emerson of Read- 
ing. They met, by appointment, at the tavern in Saugus, and 
so great was the number of people, that they removed to an 
adjacent field. The Reading champion was foiled, and went 
home in great chagrin. Dr. Perkins says that the exercise of 
Gowen's wit 'was beyond all human imagination.' But he 
afterward fell into such stupidity, that the expression became 
proverbial — ' you are as dull as Jonathan Gowen.' 

1757. There was an earthquake on the eighth of July, at 
fifteen minutes after two of the clock. Colhns. 



206 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1758. 

On the sixth of February, two merchant vessels, from Lon- 
don, vakiecl at one hundred thousand pounds, were wrecked on 
Lynn Beach. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, August fourteenth, the people 
were alarmed, during meeting time, by the beating of drums ; 
and on the next day, twenty men were impressed, and marched 
to Springfield. Pratt. 

On the sixth of December, Lord Loudon's regiment, in march- 
ing through Woodend, took a boy named Nathaniel Low, living 
with Mr. Zaccheus Collins. His master followed the regiment 
into Marblehead, and on his solicitation, being a Quaker, the 
boy was released. This regiment had for some time been 
quartered in Boston, where Lord Loudon sported his coach and 
six horses. Collins. 

1758. Thomas Mansfield, Esq. was thrown from his horse 
on Friday, January 6, and died the next Sunday. 

A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on 
the twenty-third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge 
were killed. 

Li a thunder shower, on the fourth of August, an ox, belong- 
ing to Mr. Henry Silsbe, was killed by the lightning. 

A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsey, 
was cast away, on the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth. 

1761. The Honorable Ebenezer Burrell was born on the 
thirteenth of July, 1679. He was representative from Lynn six 
years; and in 1731, and 1746, was chosen councillor. He was 
sent a commissioner to Casco Bay, to treat with the Indians, on 
the seventeenth of July, 1732; and returned on the fifth of 
August. He lived at Swampscot, at the place where Mr. Hum- 
frey formerly resided ; and died on the sixth of September, 1761, 
aged 82 years. He married Martha Farrington, by whom he 
had ten children. 

The Eev. Nathaniel Henchman was a son of Mr. Nathaniel 
Henchman, a book-binder, and deacon of a church in Boston. 
He was born* on the twenty-second of November, 1700; and 
graduated at Harvard University in 1717. He was ordained 
minister of the first parish in Lynn, in December, 1720. His 
residence was on the north side of the Common, where he built 
the house now owned by Mr. George Bracket. He died t on 
the twenty-third of December, 1761, aged 61 ; having preached 
forty-one years. In the early part of his ministry, Mr. Hench- 

* Lynn Record, in the hand writing of Dr. Nathaniel Henchman, his son, Town 
Clerk. Some other records have a ditierent date. t ' About one or two o'clock, 
jn the morning.' Collins. 



17G1.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 207 

man enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his people. His 
learning was extensive, and his integrity and virtue entitled him 
to high respect. He was strongly attached to regularity and 
order, and disinclined to every species of enthusiasm. He 
thought the services of the Sabbath, in general, were sufficient, 
and was decidedly opposed to evening meetings. By his omit- 
ting to deliver lectures, and refusing to admit itinerant preachers 
into his pulpit, disaflections were created, which deprived him of 
the regard of many of his people. The occasion of these diffi- 
culties is to be imputed to the opinions of the time, rather than 
to any want of urbanity on the part of Mr. Henchman, who was 
very affable in his manners, and treated Mr. Whitefield with 
great civility and respect in his own house, and invited him to 
remain longer.* He published the following pamphlets: 

1. Reasons for Declining to Admit Mr. Whitefield into his 
Pulpit; addressed to the Rev. Stephen Chase of Lynnfield. 
Boston, 1744, 8vo. 

2. A Letter to Rev. William Hobby of Reading, in Reply to 
his Vindication of Mr. Whitefield. Boston, 1745, 4to. 

The following epitaph was written for Mr. Henchman. 

Three times aloud the summons hath been blown, 
To call Lynn's watchmen to the highest throne. 
First Whiting- left the church her loss to weep ; 
Then Shepard next resig-ned his peaceful sheep ; 
Our other shepherd now gives up his trust, 
And leaves his charge to slumber in the dust. 
A few fleet years, and the last trump will sound, 
To call our Henchman from the silent ground. f 
Then we who wake, and they who sleep must come, 
To hear the Judge pronounce the righteous doom. 

Mr. Henchman had two wives ; 1. Deborah Waker, in 1727, 
and, 2. Lydia Lewis, in 1734. He had five children. 1. Dr. 
Nathaniel, born April 1, 1728, graduated at Harvard University 
in 1747, was town clerk of Lynn for two years, and died May 
30, 17G7, aged 39. 2. Daniel. 3. Anna. 4. Lydia. 5. Anna. 

On the twelfth of March, at twenty minutes after two, in the 
morning, there was an earthquake ; and on the first of Novem- 
ber, between eight and nine in the evening, another. Collins. 

On the twentieth of April, John Stavers commenced running 
a stage from Portsmouth to Boston. It was a curricle, drawn 
by two horses, and had seats for three persons. It left Ports- 
mouth on Monday morning, stopped the first night at Ipswich, 
and reached the ferry the next afternoon. It returned on Thurs- 
day morning, and reached Portsmouth on Friday. The fare was 

* Whitefield's Journal — Dr. Wigglesworth's Letter. t The word ' henchman ' 
signifies a warder or watchman. 



208 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



1762. 



thirteen shillings and six pence. 
New England. 



This was the first stage in 



1762. The summer of this year was remarkably dry. On 
Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of July, a day of fasting and 
prayer was observed, in consequence of the drought ; and on 
the Sunday following, there was a ' fine shower of rain.' 

1763. Mr. John Treadwell was ordained minister of the 
first parish, on the second of March. 

There was at this time in the town a man named Robert 
Bates, who had such a facility for rhyming that he usually made 
his answers in that manner. Many of these have been related, 
but I only notice one. The tax gatherer called on him one day, 
and addressed him thus : ' Mr. Bates, can you pay your rates ? ' 
to which he replied : ' My dear honey, I have no money ; I 
can 't pay you now, unless I sell my cow ; I will pay you half, 
when I kill my calf; but if you'll wait till fall, I'll pay you all. 

1764. August 27. Mr. John Tarbox was drowned from a 
gondola, at the salt marsh. 

December 28. Mr. Robert Wait was found dead on the 
marsh, near Saugus river. 

The Boston Gazette, of October 21, says: ' It is certain that 
women's shoes, made at Lynn, do now exceed those usually 
imported, in strength and beauty, but not in price. Surely 
then it is expected, the public spirited ladies of the town and 
province will turn their immediate attention to this branch of 
manufacture.' 





CHAPTER X. 

Stamp Act — Duty on Tea — Resolutions of the Town — Public Spirit of the 
Women — Battle of Lexington — Lynn Men Killed — Battle of Bunker Hill — 
Paper Money — Peace Proclaimed — Manners and Customs before the Revolu- 
tion. 17G5 to 17S3. 

When Freedom, from her mountain height, 

Unfurled her standard to the air. 
She tore the azure robe of night. 

And set the stars of glory there. 

^ ' Drake. 

MONG the encroachments of the arbitrary power 
of the Mother Country, was the attempt to im- 
pose taxes upon the Colonies without their con- 
sent. Those taxes were at first levied in the 
form of duties; but the people objected to this 
incipient plan of raising a revenue for the sup- 
port of a government in which they had no action, and their 
opposition eventuated in the establishment of their independ- 
ence. 

1765. This year an act was passed, by the Parliament of 
England, called the Stamp Act; requiring the people of the 
American Colonies to employ papers stamped with the royal 
seal, in all mercantile and legal transactions. This act called 
forth a general spirit of opposition, particularly in Boston ; 
where, on the night of the twenty- sixth of August, a party of 
the people collected, and nearly demolished the house of Lieu- 
tenant Governor Hutchinson, and several others. In many other 
places the people manifested their displeasure, by tolling bells, 
and burning the effigies of the stamp officers. 

1766. This year the stamp act was repealed. The people 
of Lynn manifested their joy by ringing the bell and making 
bonfires. On the first of December, they directed their repre- 
sentative, Ebenezer Eurrill, Esquire, to use his endeavors to 
procure an act to comjjensate Mr. Hutchinson, and others, for 
their losses in the riot of the preceding year. 

On Saturday, the eighth of February, an English brig, from 
Hull, was cast away on Pond Beach, on the south side of 
Nahant. 

27 



210 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1768. 



1768. On the seventh of November, John Wellman and 
Young Flint, were drowned in the Pines' river, and their bodies 
taken up the next day. 

A Catamount was killed by Joseph Williams, in Lynn woods. 

1769. A snow storm, on the eleventh of May, continued 
twelve hours. 

On Wednesday evening, July nineteenth, a beautiful night 
arch appeared. It was widest in the zenith, and terminated 
in a point, at each horizon. The color was a brilliant white, and 
it continued most of the evening. 

On the eighth of August, as a party were going on board a 
schooner in the harbor, for a sail of pleasure, the canoe, in which 
were six women and two men, was overset, and two of the 
party drowned. These were Anna Hood, aged 23, daughter of 
Benjamin Hood; and Alice Bassett, aged 17 years, daughter of 
Daniel Bassett. 

In a great snow storm on the eighth of September, several 
buildings were blown down, and a sloop driven ashore at 
Nahant. 

1770. After the repeal of the stamp act, the English Par- 
liament, in 1767, passed an act imposing duties on imported 
paper, glass, paints, and tea. This again awakened the opposi- 
tion of the colonies. The General Court of Massachusetts, in 
1768, published a letter, expressing their firm loyalty to the king, 
yet their unwillingness to submit to any acts of legislative 
oppression. This letter displeased the English government, the 
General Court was dissolved, and seven armed vessels, with 
soldiers, were sent from Halifax to Boston, to ensure tranquillity. 
On the fifth of March, 1770, a part of these troops, being 
assaulted by some of the people of Boston, fired upon them, 
and killed four men. The soldiers were imprisoned, tried, and 
acquitted. 

On the twelfth of April, the duties on paper, glass, and paints, 
were repealed ; but the duty on tea, which was three pence on 
a pound, remained. On the twenty-fourth of May, the inhabi- 
tants of Lynn held a meeting, in which they passed the follow- 
ing resolutions. 

' 1. Voted, we will do our endeavor to discountenance the use 
of foreign tea. 

' 2. Voted, no person to sustain any office of profit, that will 
not comply with the above vote. 

' 3. Voted, no taverner or retailer shall be returned to sessions, 
that will not assist in discountenancing the use of said tea ; and 
the selectmen to give it as a reason to the sessions. 



1771. J HISTORY OF LYNN. 211 

'4. Voted, unanimously, that we will use our endeavors to 
promote our own manufactures amongst us.' 

The disairection against the English government, appears to 
have been occasioned, not so much by the amount of the duty 
on the tea, as by the right which it implied in that government, 
to tax the people of America without their consent. The 
colonies had always admitted their allegiance to the English 
crown ; but as they had no voice in parliament, it was ungen- 
erous, if not unjust, in that parliament, to impose any taxes 
which were not necessary for their immediate benefit. 

A great storm, on the nineteenth of October, raised the tide 
higher than had been known for many years. 

1771. On the ninth of January, Mrs. Rebecca Hadley, wife 
of Mr. Thomas Hadley, of Lynnfield, left her house to visit an 
acquaintance, and did not return. On the twenty-sixth she was 
found, drowned in the stream above the mill-pond, into which 
she probably fell, in attempting to cross it. 

1772. Mr. Sparhawk, of Lynnfield, in his diary, thus 
remarks : ' An amazing quantity of snow fell in the month of 
March, such as I never knew in the time that I have lived.' 
On the fifth of March, the amount of snow which fell, was 16 
inches ; on the ninth, 9 inches ; on the eleventh, 8 inches ; on 
the thirteenth, 7 inches; on the 16th, 4 inches; and on the 
twentieth, 15 inches. Thus the whole amount of snow, in 
sixteen days, was nearly five feet on a level. 

A fishing schooner was wrecked on Long Beach, on the 
twenty-first of March, and Jonathan Collins and William Boyn- 
ton, the only two men on board, were drowned. 

On the fifteenth of May, Abigail R.hodes, a daughter of Mr. 
Eleazer Rhodes, was lost. On the twenty-fourth, a great num- 
ber of people went in search of her, in vain. On the second of 
June, another general search was made ; and on the twenty- 
first of July, her bones were found in a swamp near the Pirate's 
Glen. There were strong suspicions of unfairness in regard to 
her death. She left a house in Boston street, in the evening, to 
return to a cottage in the forest, where she had been living, and 
was seen no more alive. Several persons were apprehended 
on suspicion, but as only circumstantial evidence was elicited, 
they were discharged. 

1773. The opposition to the duty on tea continued unre- 
mitted. The East India Company sent many cargoes to Amer- 
ica, offering to sell it at a reduced price ; but the peo})le resolved 
that it should not be landed. Seventeen men, dressed like 



212 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



[1774. 



Indians, went on board the vessels in Boston harbor, broke open 
342 chests of tea, and poured their contents into the water. 

A town meeting was held at Lynn, on the sixteenth of De- 
cember, in which the following resolutions were passed : 

' 1. That the people of the British American Colonies, by 
their constitution of government, have a right to freedom, and 
an exemption from every degree of oppression and slavery. 

' 2. That it is an essential right of freemen to have the dispo- 
sal of their own property, and not to be taxed by any power 
over which they have no control. 

' 3. That the parliamentary duty laid npon tea landed in 
America, is, in fact, a tax upon Americans, without their consent. 

' 4. That the late act of parliament, allowing the East India 
Company to send their tea to America on their own account, 
was artfully framed, for the purpose of enforcing and carrying 
into effect the oppressive act of Parliament, imposing a duty 
upon teas imported into America ; and is a fresh proof of the 
settled and determined designs of the ministers to deprive us of 
liberty, and reduce us to slavery. 

' 5. That we highly disapprove of the landing and selling of 
such teas in America, and will not suffer any teas, subjected to 
a parliamentary duty, to be landed or sold in this town ; and that 
we stand ready to assist our brethren of Boston, or elsewhere, 
whenever our aid shall be required, in repelling all attempts to 
land or sell any teas poisoned with a duty.' 

The tea fever raged very high at this time, especially among 
the ladies. A report having been put in circulation through the 
town, that Mr. James Bowler, who had a bake-house and a 
little shop, on Water Hill, had a quantity of tea in store, a 
company of women went to his house, demanded the tea, and 
destroyed it. This exploit was certainly as great a piece of 
patriotism on their part, as that performed in Boston harbor the 
same year, and deserves to be sung in strains of immortality. 
Slander, however, who is always busy in detracting from real 
merit, asserted that the women put on extra pockets on that 
memorable night, which they filled with the fragrant leaf, for 
their own private consumption. 

A deer was this year started in the Maiden woods, and chased 
by some hunters, through Chelsea, to the Lynn marsh. He 
plunged into the Saugus river, and attempted to gain the oppo- 
site shore ; but some Lynn people, coming down the river in a 
boat, approached ; and throwing a rope over his horns, brought 
him ashore at High Point. 

1774. The destruction of the tea at Boston gave great 
offence to the English government, and an act was passed, by 
which the harbor of Boston was closed against the entrance or 



1775.] H I S T O R Y O F L Y N N . 213 

departure of any vessels. The inhabitants of Lynn held sev- 
eral meetings, in which they expressed their disapprobation of 
the shutting of the port of Boston, and their abhorrence of every 
species of tyranny and oppression. 

On the seventh of October, a congress of delegates from the 
several towns of Massachusetts, assembled at Salem, to con- 
sider the state of public affairs. The delegates from Lynn were 
Ebenezer Burrill, Esq., and Capt. John Mansfield. They made 
addresses to Governor Gage, and to the clergy of the province, 
chose a committee of safety, and recommended measures for 
the regulation of public conduct. 

The night of October 25th was one of surpassing splendor. 
The northern lights cast a luminous night arch across the heav- 
ens, from the eastern to the western horizon. 

1775. On the morning of Wednesday, the nineteenth of 
April, the inhabitants of Lynn were awakened, by the informa- 
tion that a detachment of about eight hundred troops, had left 
Boston, in the night, and were proceeding towards Concord. On 
receiving the intelligence that the troops had left Boston, many 
of the inhabitants of Lynn immediately set out, without waiting 
to be organized, and with such weapons as they could most 
readily procure. One man, with whom I was acquainted, had no 
other equipments than a long fowling-piece, without a bayonet, a 
horn of powder, and a seal-skin pouch, filled with bullets and 
buck shot. The English troops arrived at Lexington, a little 
before five in the morning, where they fired upon the inhabitants, 
assembled in arms before the meeting-house, and killed eight 
men. They then proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed 
some miHtaiy stores; but being opposed by the militia, they 
soon began to retreat. The people from Lynn met them at 
Lexington, on their return ; and joined in firing at them from the 
walls and fences. In one instance, says my informant, an 
English soldier, coming out of a house, was met by the owner. 
They levelled their pieces at each other, and firing at the same 
instant, both fell dead. The English had sixty-five men killed, 
the Americans fifty. Among these were four men from Lynn, 
who fell in Lexington. 

1. Mr. Abednego Ramsdell. He was a son of Noah Rams- 
dell, and was born 11 September, 1750. He had two brothers, 
older than himself, whose names were Shadrach and Meshech. 
He married Hannah Woodbury, 11 March, 1774, and resided in 
the eastern part of Essex street. He had gone out early on that 
morning to the sea shore, with his gun, and had killed a couple 
of black ducks, and was returning with them, when he heard 
the alarm. He immediately threw down the birds, and set off 
He was seen passing through the town, running in haste, Avith 



214 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



[1775 



his stockings fallen over his shoes. He arrived at Lexington 
about the middle of the day, and fell immediately. 

2. Mr. William Flint. He married Sarah Larrabee, 5 June, 
1770. 

3. Mr. Thomas Hadley. His wife, Rebecca, was drowned, as 
mentioned in 1771. 

4. Mr. Daniel Townsend. He was born 26 December, 1738. 
A stone has been erected to his memory, at Lynnfield, with the 
following inscription : 

' Lie, valiant Townsend, in the peaceful shades ; we trust, 
Immortal honors mingle with thy dust. 
What though thy body struggled in its gore? 
So did thy Saviour's body long before ; 
And as he raised his own, by power divine, 
So the same power shall also quicken thine, 
And in eternal glory mayst thou shine.' 

In the number of the wounded was Timothy Munroe, of Lynn. 
He was standing behind a house, with Daniel ToAvnsend, firing 
at the British troops, as they were coming down the road, in 
their retreat toward Boston. Townsend had just fired, and ex- 
claimed, ' There is another redcoat down,' when Munroe, look- 
ing round, saw, to his astonishment, that they were completely 
hemmed in by the flank guard of the British array, who were 
coming down through the fields behind them. They immedi- 
ately ran into the house, and sought refuge in the cellar ; but no 
cellar was there. They looked for a closet, but there was none. 
All this time, which was indeed but a moment, the balls were 
pouring through the back windows, making havoc of the 
glass. Townsend leaped through the end window, carrying 
the sash and all before him, and instantly fell dead. Munroe 
followed, and ran for his life. He passed for a longdistance be- 
tween both parties, many of whom discharged their guns at him. 
As he passed the last soldier, who stopped to fire, he heard the 
red coat exclaim, 'Damn the Yankee! he is bulletproof — let 
him go ! ' Mr. Munroe had one ball through his leg, and thirty- 
two bullet holes through his clothes and hat. Even the metal 
buttons of his waistcoat were shot off. He kept his clothes 
until he was tired of showing them, and died in 1808, aged 72 
years. Mr. Joshua Felt was also wounded, and Josiah Breed 
was taken prisoner, but afterward released. 

The war was now begun in earnest. On the 23d of April, 
the people of Lynn chose a committee of safety, to consult 
measures of defence. This committee consisted of Rev. John 
Treadwell, minister of the first parish. Rev. Joseph Roby, min- 
ister of the third parish, and Deacon Daniel Mansfield. A com- 
pany of alarm men was organized, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Harris Chadwell. Three watches were stationed each 



1776.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 215 

night ; one at Sagamore Hill, one at the south end of Shepard 
street, and one at Newhall's Landing, on Saugus river. No 
person was allowed to go out of the town without permission ; 
and the people carried their arms to the place of public worship. 
Mr. Treadwell, always foremost in patriotic proceedings, ap- 
peared, on the Sabbath, with his cartridge box under one arm, 
and his sermon under the other, and went into the pulpit with 
his musket loaded. 

On the 17th of June, was fought the memorable battle of Bun- 
ker Hill. The Lynn regiment was commanded by Colonel John 
Mansfield. The English, in this battle, lost two hundred and 
twenty-six men killed, and the Americans one hundred and 
thirty- nine. 

Mr. John Lewis died this year, aged ninety-two. He lived 
on the place of his ancestors, in Boston street, and was for many 
years a deacon of the first parish. He owned the second tan- 
nery in Lynn, which was on the brook opposite his house. He 
was a gentleman extensively beloved and respected. He mar- 
ried Mary Burrill in 1715, and had five children. 1. Lydia, who 
mamed Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, in 1734. 2. Sarah. 3. Ma- 
ry, who married Rev. John Carnes, in 1747. 4. Lois. 5. John, 
who was born 7 November, 1724 ; graduated at Harvard Uni- 
versity in 1744 ; practised medicine ; and died 21 October, 1754. 

For many years the tavern in Saugus was kept by Zaccheus 
Norwood, and after his death, by his widow, who married Josiah 
Martin, who then became landlord, as tavern keepers were then 
called. In 1775, he enlisted in the war, and Mr. Jacob Newhall 
then took the tavern, which he kept through the Revolution, and 
until the year 1807. He died in 1816. He was a man very 
highly esteemed, and his house was considered the best, as it 
had always been the most noted, in Essex county. 

1776. In January, the English troops were quartered at Bos- 
ton, and the American, at Cambridge, separated by Charles river. 
It was the intention of General Putnam to cross over to Boston, 
as soon as the river should become sufficiently frozen. Three 
of his soldiers, one of whom was Mr. Henry Hallo well, of Lynn, 
hearing of this design, set out to try the strength of the ice, by 
throwing a large stone before them. A party of about fifty of 
the English soldiers, on the opposite shore, commenced firing at 
them ; which they only regarded by mocking with their voices 
the noise of the bullets. They continued on the ice till the 
English party retired ; when, thinking that they had gone to 
procure a cannon, they returned, after picking up more than sev- 
enty balls on the ice, which they presented to General Putnam, 
as trophies of their venturesome exploit. The soldiers from 
Lynn were under the command of Capt. Ezra Newhall. 



216 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1777. 

On the 21st of May, the people of Lynn voted, that the min- 
isters should be invited to attend the annual town meetings, to 
begin them with prayer. I was once at the meeting of a town 
in New Hampshire, in which this practice prevails, and was 
convinced of its propriety. There are occasions, on which 
prayer is made, which are of less apparent importance than the 
choice of men, to govern the town or commonwealth, and to 
make laws on which the welfare and perhaps the lives of the 
people may depend. 

A company of soldiers was furnished for an expedition to 
Canada. On the 2d of August, the town allowed them fifteen 
pounds each, and voted that ten pounds should be given to any 
person who would voluntarily enlist. 

An alarm was made, at midnight, that some of the English 
troops had landed on King's beach. In a short time the town 
was all in commotion. Many persons left their houses and fled 
into the woods. Some families threw their plate into the wells, 
and several sick persons were removed. Some self possession, 
however, was manifested. Mr. Frederick Breed, for his exer- 
tions in rallying the soldiers and marching them to Wood End, 
where he found the alarm to be false, received a commission in 
the army, and afterward rose to the rank of Colonel. 

1777. Rev. Benjamin Adams was born at Newbury, in the 
year 1719, and graduated at Harvard University in 1738. He 
was ordained minister of the second parish, now Lynnfield, 
November 5, 175-5; and died May 4, 1777, aged 58; having 
preached 21 years. He married Rebecca Nichols, and had sev- 
en children : Rebecca, Dr. Benjamin, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ann, 
Joseph and Nathan, (twins.) 

In the winter of this year, John Lewis, aged 26, and Benja- 
min, aged 15, brothers, of Lynn, died on board the Jersey prison 
ship, in the harbor of New York. Their deaths were principally 
occasioned by severe treatment, and by unwholesome food 
prepared in copper vessels. 

1780. The town of Lynn granted as much money as would 
purchase twenty-seven hundred silver dollars, to pay the sol- 
diers. Within two -years, the town granted seventy thousand 
pounds, old tenor, to defray their expenses. The principal mon- 
ey in circulation was the paper money issued by Congress, which 
had greatly depreciated. A soldier of the Revolution says, that, 
in 1781, he sold seventeen hundred and eighty dollars of paper 
money, for thirty dollars in silver. 

The continental currency, as it was called, consisted of small 
pieces of paper, about two inches square. The one dollar bills 
had an altar, with the words, depressa resurgit, the oppressed 



1780.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 217 

rises. The two dollar bills bore a band, making a circle with 
compasses, with the motto, tribulatio dual, trouble enriches. The 
device of the three dollar bills was an eagle pouncing upon a 
crane, who was biting the eagle's neck, with the motto, exitus in 
dubio, the event is doubtful. On the five dollar bills was a hand 
grasping a thornbush with the inscription, sustine vel abstine, 
hold fast or touch not. The six dollar bills represented a beaver 
felling a tree, with the word perseverando, by perseverance we 
prosper. Another emission bore an anchor, with the words, In te 
Domine s]jeramus, In thee. Lord, have I trusted. The eight 
dollar bills, displayed a harp, with the motto, majora minorihus 
consonant, the great harmonize with the little. The thirty dollar 
bills exhibited a wreath on an altar, with the legend, si rede, fa- 
des, if you do right, you will succeed. When I was a child, I 
had thousands of dollars of this uncurrent money given me to 
play with. 

The 19th of May was remarkable throughout New England 
for its uncommon darkness. It began about the hour of ten in 
the morning. At eleven, the darkness was so great, that the 
fowls retired to their roosts, and the cattle collected round the 
barns, as at night. Betore twelve, candles became requisite, 
and many of the people of Lynn omitted their dinners, thinking 
that the day of judgment had come. The darkness increased 
through the evening, and continued till midnight. It was sup- 
posed, by some, to have been occasioned by a smoke, arising 
from extensive fires in the western woods, and combining with 
a thick fog from the sea. The Rev. Mather Byles, of Boston, 
of punning memory, made a happy remark on this occasion. 
A lady sent her servant, in great alarm, to know if he could tell 
the cause of this great darkness. ' Tell your mistress,' replied 
he, ' that I am as much in the dark as she is ! ' 

The winter of 1780 was the coldest since 1741. 

At the commencement of the war, there were twenty-six 
slaves in Lynn : all of whom were made free this year. In 
1G75, there was a slave in Lynn,, named Domingo Wight, who 
had a wife and two children. Another slave, in 1714, named Si- 
mon Africanus, had a wife and six children. Zaccheus Collins 
had four slaves, whose names were Pharaoh, Essex, Prince, and 
Cato. Prince was purchased at Boston, in 174G, for seventy-five 
dollars. In 1757, he married Venus, a slave to Zaccheus Gould. 
Joshua Cheever had a slave named Gift, whom he freed in 
1756, at the solicitation of Hannah Perkins, who became his 
wife in 1745, on condition that he should free his slave at the 
age of twenty-five years. John Bassctt had a slave, named 
Sampson, whom he liberated in 177G, because 'all nations were 
made of one l)lood.' Thomas Cheever had two slaves, Reading 
and Jane, who were married in 1760. Samuel Johnson had two 
28 



218 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1752. 

slaves, Adam, who married Dinah in 176C. Thomas Mansfield 
had two slaves, one of whom, named Pompey, had been a 
prince in Africa ; and, after his liberation, lived in the forest on 
the east of Saugus river. For many years, the slaves in all the 
neighboring towns used to have a holiday allowed them once a 
year, to visit King Pompey ; and doubtless this was to them a 
day of real happiness. On the little glade by the river side, the 
maidens gathered flowers to crown their old king, and the men 
talked of the happy hours they had known on the banks of the 
Garaba. Hannibal, a slave of John Lewis, was an example of 
the good effects which education and good treatment may pro- 
duce in the colored people. He was brought from Africa when 
a boy, and was treated rather as a servant than a slave. He 
married Phebe, a slave of Ebenezer Hawkes. By the indulgence 
of his master, and by working extra hours, he earned enough to 
purchase the freedom of three children, at forty dollars each ; 
but Phebe being a faithful slave, her master would not part with 
her short of forty pounds ; yet, with a motive of hope before 
him, Hannibal was not to be discouraged, and in a few years 
her purchase was accomplished, and his own freedom was given 
to him. He married in 1762, and had three sons and six daugh- 
ters. I have seldom known a more worthy family. Ebenezer 
Burrill had tAvo slaves ; Jedediah Collins, two ; Joseph Gould, 
two ; and James Philips, Samuel Burrill, Theophilus Burrill, Jo- 
seph Gaskins, Daniel Bassett, James Purinton, Ralph Lindsey, 
and Dr. Henry Burchsted, one slave each ; being in all, with 
their children, about forty slaves. 

Rev. Joseph Mottey was ordained minister of the Lynnfield 
parish on the 24th of September. 

On the 29th of November there was an earthquake. 

Dr. John Perkins, of Lynnfield, died this year, aged S5. His 
wife Clarissa died in 1749, and he wrote a poem on her death. 
He was a very eminent physician in his time, had studied two 
years in London, and practised physic forty years in Boston. 
In 1755, he published a tract on earthquakes ; and also an essay 
on the small pox, in the London Magazine. He left a manu- 
script of 368 pages, containing an account of his life and experi- 
ence, which is preserved in the library of the American Antiqua- 
rian Society. 

1782. Ptev. John Treadwell relinquished the care of the first 
parish this year. He was born at Ipswich, September 20, 1758 ; 
and was ordained at Lynn, March 2, 1763, where he preached 
nineteen years. He returned to Ipswich, and, in 1787, removed 
to Salem. He was representative of Ipswich and Salem, a 
senator of Essex county, and judge of the court of common 
pleas. In 1763, he married Mehitabel Dexter, a descendant of 



1783.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 219 

Thomas Dexter, who bought Nahant. He had a son, John Dex- 
ter Treadwell, born at Lynn, May 29, 1768, who became a highly 
respected physician at Salem. 

Mr. Treadwell was a great patriot, a member of the commit- 
tee of safety, and foremost in all the proceedings of the town 
during the Revolution. It is perhaps somewhat of an anomaly 
in ethics, to find a minister of the gospel of peace bearing arms ; 
but the British were obnoxious to dissenters, from an opinion 
that they wished to establish the church in America. There 
has always been a prejudice in New England against the Epis- 
copal Church, but there is abundant evidence that a man may 
be a good churchman, and yet a true patriot. Washington and 
several other Presidents were members of the church, and some 
of our most distinguished military and naval heroes have been 
churchmen. 

Mr. Treadwell was very fond of indulging in sallies of wit ; 
and like his namesake in Shakspeare, he was not only witty in 
himself, but the cause of wit in other men. One Sunday, ob- 
serving that many of his audience had their heads in a reclining 
posture, he paused in his sermon, and exclaimed, ' I should 
guess that as many as two thirds of you are asleep I ' Mr. Jo- 
siah Martin, raising his head, looked round and replied : ' If I 
were to guess, I should guess there are not more than one half!' 
The next day, Mr. Martin was brought up for disturbing divine 
service ; but he contended ' it was not the time of divine ser- 
vice ; the minister had ceased to preach, and it was guessing 
time.' He was accordingly discharged. 

Dr. Jonathan Norwood was a son of Mr. Zaccheus Norwood, 
born September 19, 1751, and graduated at Harvard University, 
1771. He lived on the north side of the common. His death 
was occasioned by falling from his horse, on the night of the 18th 
of March. 

1783. This year, the War, which had spread its gloom 
through the Colonics for seven years, was terminated l^y a treaty 
of peace, signed on the third of September ; and the then Thir- 
teen United States took their rank as an independent nation. 
The red cross banner of England was exchanged for a flag with 
thirteen stripes and thirteen stars ; and Americans now regard 
the people of England, like the rest of mankind, — in war, en- 
emies ; in peace, friends. 

With a few remarks respecting men and manners before the 
Revolution, we will take our leave of the olden time. Peo- 
ple were then generally a plain, plodding, go-a-foot, matter-of- 
fact, sort of people. Pvail-roads and steamboats had not even 
been thought of; the stage-coach and the omnibus were un- 



220 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1783. 

known ; and when something which was intended to answer 
the purpose of a coach at last appeared, it was a hmibering ve- 
hicle, drawn by two horses, passing through the town twice a 
week, in going to and returning from Boston. A few of the more 
wealthy farmers kept a chaise, or a chair, which was only ' tackled' 
on Sundays, or perhaps once a month for a journey to a neigh- 
boring town. People walked, without thinking it a "trouble, from 
three to six miles on Sunday to meeting ; the farmer rode on 
horseback, taking his wife behind him ; and two or three spin- 
sters of the family, or perhaps a young wife, followed in chairs 
placed in the horse-cart, — for a four-wheeled wagon was un- 
known in the town for more than one hundred and forty years 
after its settlement ; and when Mr. Benjamin Newhall, about 
the year 1770, introduced the first ox wagon, it was humorously 
said, that his hired man had to drive down to the common to 
turn it. The physician made his visits on horseback, with his 
big saddle-bags on each side, stuffed with medicaments, — for 
an apothecary's shop was as rare as an opera house. There 
were no lectures, or lyceums, or libraries, or concerts in those 
days ; there were few excitements, for people had not leisure to 
promote them ; a reputation could not then be destroyed, as now, 
in a day, for they lived too remote for common slander, — but 
when the spirit of invective and evil, which had been confined 
for sixty years, did at length break forth, as in the time of witch- 
craft, it was as if a mountain lake should suddenly burst its cere- 
ments of porphyry, uprooting the finest trees, and bearing bould- 
ers of granite through the cultivated valleys. 

Gentlemen, in those days, wore hats with broad brims, turned 
up into three corners, with loops at the sides ; long coats, with 
large pocket folds and cuffs, and without collars. The buttons 
were commonly plated, but sometimes of silver, often as large 
as half a dollar. Shirts had bosom and wrist ruffles ; and all 
wore gold or silver shirt buttons at the wrist, united by a link. 
The waistcoat was long, with large pockets ; and the neckcloth 
or scarf, of fine white linen, or figured stuff, broidered, and the 
ends hanging loosely on the breast. The breeches were usually 
close, with silver buckles at the knees. The legs were covered 
with long gray stockings, which on holydays were exchanged for 
black or white silk. Boots, with broad white tops; or shoes, with 
straps and large silver buckles ; completed the equipment. 

Ladies wore caps, long stiff stays, and high-heeled shoes. 
Their bonnets were of silk or satin, and usually black. Gowns 
were extremely long-waisted, with tight sleeves. Another fash- 
ion was, very short sleeves, with an immense frill at the elbow, 
leaving the rest of the arm naked. A large flexible hoop, three 
or four feet in diameter, was for sometime quilted into the hem 
of the gown, making an immense display of the lower person. 



1783.] 



HISTORY OF LYNN, 



221 



A lona:, round cushion, stuffed with cotton or hair, and covered 
with black crape, was laid across the head, over which the hair 
was combed back and fastened. It was almost the universal cus- 
tom, also, for women, to wear gold beads, — thirty-nine little hol- 
low globes about the size of a pea, strung on a thread, and tied 
round the neck. Sometimes this string would prove false to its 
trust, — at an assembly, perhaps, — and then, oh I such a time to 
gather them up, before they should be trampled on and ruined I 
Working women wore petticoats and half gowns, drawn with a 
cord round the waist, and neats' leather shoes; though they gen- 
erally throughout the country had a pair of ' Lynn shoes ' for 
Sunday. Women did not ' go a-shopping ' every day then ; there 
were few shops to go to, and those contained only such -articles 
as were indispensable, and in very limited variety. 

Those times had their benefits, but we would not wish their 
return. Nature brings not back the mastodon ; why, then, 
should we wish a recurrence of those gigantic days, which pro- 
duced great men in proportion to great evils. That the men were 
more honest and generous, or the women more amiable and vir- 
tuous then, is not contended. The charm about them consists 
chiefly in this, that they lived in the early period of our history, — 
a period which will always be interesting — the records of which 
will be read with as much avidity a thousand years hence, as 
they are to-day. 

Lynn had 168 men in the Revolutionary War, of whom fifty- 
two were lost, beside the four men killed at Lexington. 







CHAPTER XL 

Politics and Religious Opinions — Methodists — Shipwreck — Total Eclipse — 
Academy — Embargo — War — Moll Pitcher — Sea Serpent — Frosted Trees — 
Antimasonry — Shower of Meteors — Universalists — Episcopal Church — East- 
ern Rail-road — Woman — Great Storms — High Tides — Comet — Sagamore 
Hall burnt. 17S4 to 1S44. 

The good old times — all times when old are good — 
Are gone. jj^j^oj,. 




HE whole political course of our country has 
now been changed by one great event. We 
are no longer the subjects of a foreign power. 
A new era has dawned upon us. The days of 
three-cornered hats and three-cornered swords 
are gone. Our governors are no longer ap- 
pointed in England ; our civil policy is no 
longer regulated by her laws. We stand 
alone, a nation among nations. Our thousands 
of little democracies, scattered throughout the 
wide extent of our almost boundless country, 
constitute one grand Republic, which is now trying, before the 
world, the great problem, whether a free people can govern 
themselves. 

For more than twenty years from the adoption of the State 
constitution in 1780, the people of Lynn do not appear to have 
been much agitated by any conflict of political opinions. The 
insurrection in the central counties of Massachusetts, in 1786, 
was the first event which disturbed the public peace ; and in the 
following year, a company of twenty-three men from Lynn, went 
voluntarily to suppress the rebellion. The administration of the 
national government, from its commencement in 1759, seems to 
have been generally approved, until the year 1794, when a treaty 
of amity was concluded with England, by John Jay, Chief 
Justice of the United States, with the sanction of President 
Washington. This treaty served to evince the existence, 
throughout the union, of two great parties, who were separated 
by their difl'erent views of the nature and extent of republican 
government. One of these parties, denominated FederaUsts, 
contended that the President, with the consent of two thirds of 



1784.] HISTORY OF L Y N JNf . 223 

the Senate, had the constitutional right, in the most extended 
sense, to make foreign alUances, on terms the most favorable to 
the public welfare. The other party, styled Democrats, consid- 
ered this power to be so restricted, as not to infringe the partic- 
ular rights of any State. The principle of one party had for its 
object, the greatest good of the greatest number — of the other, 
the greatest good of each individual. Both these parties were 
republican in their views ; and were undoubtedly influenced by 
a pure regard to the general good ; though they were reciprocally 
regarded as being hostile to it. 

In 1781, all the votes in the town, which were forty-four, were 
given for John Hancock, the first governor under the new con- 
stitution. The smallest number was in 1784 ; when there were 
only twenty-seven votes for governor, and six for senators. 
There were, indeed, many more voters in the town, but they 
were so well satisfied with the wisdom of their rulers, that they 
gave themselves no anxiety on the subject. But causes of 
dissatisfaction gradually arose ; and the spirit of party began to 
be more plainly manifested in 1800, when there were one hun- 
dred and thirteen votes for Caleb Strong, the Federal governor, 
and sixty-eight for Elbridge Gerry, the Democratic candidate. 
The political excitement however appears to have been very 
small, and conducted altogether without animosity. There was 
but one list of senators brought forward until 1801, and the Fed- 
eralists retained the ascendancy until 1804. After the death of 
"Washington, and the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the Presiden- 
tial chair, the Democrats in this town began more ostensibly to 
increase, and in 1804 manifested a decided superiority. At the 
choice of governor, 145 votes were given for Caleb Strong, and 
272 for James Sullivan ; and this year, for the first time, a 
democratic representative was chosen. The parties now began 
to regard each other with manifestations of decided hostility, 
and the political arena presented a field of civil warfare without 
bloodshed. The most strenuous exertions were made by one 
party to maintain the ascendancy, and by the other to regain it. 
No man was permitted to remain neutral ; and if any one, pre- 
suming on his independence, ventured to form an opinion of his 
own, and to regard both parties as passin.g the bounds of moder- 
ation, he was regarded as an enemy by both. This rage of 
party continued several years, and was sometimes so violent, as 
to be in danger of degenerating into animosity and personal 
hatred. 

1784. Rev. Obabiah Parsons was installed Pastor of the 
First Parish, on the fourth of February. On the twenty-eighth 
of October, General Lafayette passed through the town, on a 
visit to the eastward. 



224 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1786. 



1786. In April, Benjamin Ingalls, in throwing an anchor 
from a boat in the harbor, Avas drawn overboard and drowned. 

The first rock Avas spht in Lynn this year, by John Gore. 
Before this, the people had used rough rock for building. 

On the ninth of December, there was a very great snow; 
nearly seven feet deep on a level. Sparhawk. 

1789. General Washington pas.sed through Lynn in Octo- 
ber. The inhabitants were greatly delighted to see him ; and 
the old Boston road was thronged with people, who came forth 
to salute him as he proceeded to Salem. 

1791. Until this year there were but two religious denomi- 
nations in town — the First Congregational church and the 
Society of Friends. This year the First Methodist Society was 
organized. The Rev. Jesse Lee, a preacher of that persuasion, 
came to Lynn on the fourteenth of December previous, and was 
so successful in preaching at private houses, that on the twen- 
tieth of February a society was formed; and on the twenty-first 
of June a house of Avorship was raised, which was dedicated on 
the twenty-sixth of the same month. This was the first Metho- 
dist meeting-house in Massachusetts. Several members of the 
First Congregational church united with this society; among 
whom were the two deacons, who took with them the vessels of 
the communion service. These vessels consist of four large 
silver tankards, eleven silver cups, and one silver font for bap- 
tism ; presented to the church by John Burrill, Theophilus Bur- 
rill, and John Breed. The removal of this plate occasioned a 
difference between the societies, and the Congregational church 
was compelled to borrow vessels, for the communion, from the 
church at Saugus. The deacons afterward offered to return one 
half; and in prospect of a prosecution, they relinquished the 
whole. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the First Congrega- 
tional church, which had opposed and persecuted the Quakers 
and the Baptists, was at one time so reduced, that only three 
male members remained. In 1794, this church invited those of 
its members who had seceded to the Methodist society to be 
reunited ; and within a few years, one of the deacons and sev- 
eral of the oiher members returned. The first stationed minis- 
ter of the Methodists was Rev. Amos G. Thomson. The fre- 
quent changes of the ministers of this persuasion, render it 
inconvenient to keep an account of them. They are regarded as 
belonging to the Conference, or society at large; and, like the 
apostles, they ' have no certain dwelling place.' May their rest 
be in heaven ! 

The eighteenth of December was the coldest day known for 
many years. The thermometer was twenty degrees below zero. 



179'2.J HISTORY OP LYNN. 225 



1792. Rev. Obadiali Parsons reliuqixished his connexion 
\vith the First Parish on the sixteenth of July. He was born at 
Gloucester, graduated at Cambridge in 1768, and was installed 
at Lynn, February 4, 1784, where he preached eight years. He 
returned to Gloucester, where he died in December, 1801. His 
first wife was Elizabeth Wigglesworth ; his second, Sally Cof- 
fin. He had nine children ; EHzabeth W., William, Sally C, 
William, Sally C, Obadiah, Polly, Harriet, and Sally. 

The ship Commerce of Boston was wrecked on the coast of 
Arabia, on the tenth of July. One of the crew was James Lar- 
rabee of Lynn, who suffered almost incredible hardships, being 
robbed by the Bedouins, and compelled to travel hundreds of 
miles over the burning sands, where he saw his companions 
daily perishing by hunger, thirst, and heat. He finally arrived 
at Muscat, where he was relieved and sent home by the English 
Consul Of thirty-four men, only eight survived. 

On the tenth of August, Joshua Howard, aged twenty-nine 
years, went into the water, after laboring hard upon the salt 
marsh, and was immediately chilled and drowned. 

1793. This year a post office was established at Lynn, at 
the corner of Boston and Hart streets. Col. James Robinson 
was the first postmaster. 

A boat containing five persons, was overset, near the mouth 
of Saugus river, on the fourteenth of December, and three per- 
sons drowned. These were John Burrill, aged 67, William 
Whittemore, aged 27, and William Crow, aged 15 years. They 
had been on an excursion of pleasure to the Pines ; the after- 
noon was pleasant, and as they were returning, the boat was 
struck by a squall, which frightened them, and caused them to 
seek the shore, which they probably would have gained, had not 
one of them jumped upon the side of the boat, which caused it 
to be overset. Two of them swam to the shore in safety. Mr. 
Burrill and the boy also gained the beach, but died in a few 
minutes. 

Dr. John Flagg died on the twenty-seventh of May. He was 
a son of Rev. Ebenezer Flagg, of Chester, N. H., born in 1743, 
and graduated at Cambridge in 1761. In 1769 he came to 
Lynn, where his prudence and skill soon secured him the con- 
fidence of the people. He was chosen a member of the Com- 
mittee of Safety in 1775, and received a commission as Colonel. 
His wife was Susannah Fowle, and he had one daughter, 
Susannah, who married Dr. James Gardner. 

1794. On the seventeenth of May, there was a great frost. 
Rev. Thomas Gushing Thacher was ordained minister of the 

29 



226 HISTOEY OF LYNN. [1795. 

First Parish, on the thirteenth of August. A new school-house 
was this year built by a few individuals, and purchased by the 
town. $666 were granted for the support of schools. 

In the prospect of a war with France, the government of the 
"United States required an army of eighty thousand men to be 
in preparation. Seventy- five men were detaclied from Lynn. 
The town gave each of them twenty-three shillings, and voted 
to increase their wages to ten dollars a month. 

A child of Mr. Eli Newman, named David, aged three years, 
was drowned, on the nineteenth of October. 

1795. In a great storm, on the night of the ninth of December, 
the Scottish Brig Peggy, Captain John Williamson, from Cape 
Breton, was wrecked near the southern end of Lynn Beach. 
She was laden with dried fish, consigned to Thomas Amory of 
Boston. There were twelve men on board, only one of whom, 
Hugh Cameron, of Greenock, in Scotland, escaped. He was 
ordered into the long boat, to make fast the tackle, when the 
same wave separated it from the vessel, and swept his unfor- 
tunate comrades from their last hold of life. The vessel was 
completely wrecked, being dashed to pieces upon the hard sand, 
and the fragments of the vessel, the cargo, and the crew, were 
scattered in melancholy ruin along the beach. The bodies of 
eight of the drowned men were recovered, and on the eleventh, 
they were buried from the First Parish meeting-house ; where 
an affecting sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Thacher, from 
Job 1: 19, 'And I only am escaped alone!' During the dis- 
course, Hugh Cameron stood in the centre aisle. 

1798. A child of Mr. Daniel R. Witt, named Abigail, was 
drowned on the 26th of July. As several persons were sailing 
in a boat, in Saugus river, on the 25th of August, a gun was ac- 
cidentally discharged, and a son of Mr. John Ballard, named 
Amos, eleven years of age, was instantly killed. 

1799. A barn, belonging to Mr. Micajah Newhall, on the 
south side of the common, was struck by lightning, about noon, 
on the second of August, and burnt, with a quantity of hay and 
grain, and one of his oxen. 

1800. The memory of Washington was honored by a pro- 
cession and eulogy, on the 13th of January. He died on the 
14th of December previous. The people assembled at the 
school house ; the scholars walked first, with crape on their arms, 
followed by a company of militia, with muflled drums, the mu- 
nicipal officers and citizens. The eulogy was pronounced by 
Rev. Thomas C. Thacher, at the First Congregational Meeting 



1801.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 227 

House. A funeral sermon, on the same occasion, was preached 
by Rev. William Guirey, at the First Methodist Meeting House. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, March 1st, there was an earth- 
quake. 

On the 11th of June, Mr. Samuel Dyer, a gentleman from 
Boston, was drowned in Humfrey's Pond, at Lynnfield. 

On the 26th of July, Mr. Nathaniel Fuller, aged 38 years, was 
drowned from a fishing boat, near Nahant. 

The ship William Henry, of Salem, owned by Hon. William 
Gray, was wrecked on an island of ice, on the 1st of May. 
Three of the crew were John Newhall, James Parrott, and Bas- 
sett Breed, of Lynn. They launched the long boat ; and the 
whole crew, consisting of fifteen persons, leaped into it. They 
saved nothing but the compass, the captain's trunk, an axe, and 
a fishing line. For six days they had no water but a small 
quantity which had fallen from the clouds, and laid in the hol- 
low of an island of salt water ice. On the fourth day, they 
caught a fish, which some of them devoured raw, but others 
were too faint with their long fast to swallow any. When the 
storm and fog cleared up, they went ashore at Newfoundland, 
and the next morning found their boat stove and filled with 
water. They subsisted three days on sea peas, thistles, and 
cranberries. Several of the crew were unable to walk ; but 
having repaired their boat, they put to sea, and were discovered 
by a vessel containing four men, who at first would afford them 
no relief, but after much entreaty threw them a rope, and they 
arrived at St. John's, where the American consul furnished them 
with a passage home. 

Previous to the year 1800, there were only three houses on 
Nahant, owned by Breed, Hood, and Johnson. This year, a 
large house was erected on the western part of Nahant, as a 
hotel, by Capt. Joseph Johnson. 

1801. Thcophilus Ingalls, aged 18 years, was killed at 
Portsmouth on the 8th of October, by falling from the foretop 
of the brig Traveller, and breaking his skull on the deck. 

A very brilliant meteor, half the size of the full moon, ap- 
peared in the northwest, on the evening of Friday, October 16th. 

1802. Rev. John Games died on the 20th of October, aged 
78 years. He was bom at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742, 
was minister at Stoneham and Rehoboth, and chaplain in the 
army of the Revolution. At the close of the war he came to 
Lynn, received a commission as justice of the peace, was nine 
times elected as a representative, and, in 1788, was a member 
of the Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United 
States. He was an active and useful citizen. He married 



I 



228, n I s T o E. y of l y n n . [1803. 

Maiy, daughter of John Lewis, resided in Boston street, and had 
two children : John and Mary. 

1803. Rev. Joseph Roby, pastor of the Congregational 
Church in Saugus, died on the last day of January, aged 79 
years. He was born at Boston in 1724, graduated in 1742, and 
was ordained minister of the third parish of Lynn, now the first 
parish of Saugus, 1752. He preached fifty-one years. He was 
an excellent scholar, a pious and venerable man, and was highly 
esteemed for his social virtues. He pubhshed two Fast Ser- 
mons, one in 1781, the other in 1791. He married Rachel Proc- 
tor, of Boston, and had seven children : Joseph, Rachel, Mary, 
Henry, Thomas, Ehzabeth, and Sarah. 

The ship Federal George, of Duxbury, sailed from Boston in 
February, bound to Madeira, with a cargo of flour and corn. 
Li the number of the crew were three men from Lynn, whose 
names were Bassett Breed, Parker Mudge, and Jonathan Ward. 
Li the midst of the Atlantic they were overtaken by a great 
storm, which, on the 22d, capsized the vessel, carried away her 
masts, and bowsprit, and when it subsided, left the deck two 
feet beneath the water. The crew, which consisted of seven 
men, remained lashed upon the windlass for twenty-four days. 
Their sustenance, for the first part of the time, was a small piece 
of meat, and a box of candles, which floated up from the hold. 
They afterwards succeeded in obtaining a bag of corn, and some 
flour soaked with salt water. Their allowance of drink, at first, 
was a colfee-pot cover full of water twice a day. This was af- 
terwards reduced to one half, and then to one third. On the 
18th of March, they were relieved by the Duke of Kent, an 
English merchant ship, returning from the South Sea. When 
they were taken from the wreck, they had but one quart of wa- 
ter left. 

On Sunday, the 8th of May, a snow storm commenced, and 
continued about seven hours. The snow was left upon the 
ground to the depth of one inch. The apple trees were in blos- 
som at the time. 

On the eighth of July, Mr. Wilham Cushman, aged 23 years, 
a workman on the Lynn Hotel, was drowned from a raft of tim- 
ber, in Saugus river. 

On Sunday, the 10th of July, about three of the clock in the 
afternoon, a house in Boston street was struck by lightning, and 
Mr. Miles Shory and his wife were instantly killed. The bolt 
appeared like a large ball of fire. It struck the western chim- 
ney, and, after descending several feet, separated. One branch 
melted a watch, which hung over the chamber mantel, passed 
over the cradle of a sleeping infant, covering it with cinders, 
and went out at the north chamber window. The other branch 



1803.] n I s T o n Y of l y n x , 229 

descended -with the chimney, and when it reached the chamber 
floor, separated into two branches, above the heads of the 
wife and husband, who were passing at that instant from the 
parlor to the kitchen. One part strnck Mrs. Shory on the side 
of her head, left her stocking on fire, and passed into the ground. 
The other part entered Mr. Shory's bosom, passed down his 
side, melted the buckle of his shoe, and went out at one of the 
front windows. There were four families in the house, which 
contained, at the time, nineteen persons, several of whom were 
much stunned. One man, who stood at the eastern door, was 
crushed to the floor by the pressure of the atmosphere. When 
the people entered the room in which Mr. Shory and his wife 
lay, they found two small children endeavoring to awaken their 
parents. An infant, which Mrs. Shory held in her arms, when 
she was struck, was found with its hair scorched, and its little 
finger nails slightly burned. She is yet living, the wife of Mr. 
Samuel Farrington. Mrs. Shory was a native of New Hamp- 
shire, twenty-nine years of age. Mrs. Love Shory, aged twenty- 
eight years, was a daughter of Mr. Allen Breed of Lynn. On the 
next day they were buried. The cofiins were carried side by 
side, and a double procession of mourners, of a great length, 
followed the bodies to their burial in one grave. 

On the next Sabbath, a funeral sermon was preached by the 
Rev. Thomas Gushing Thacher, at the First Congregational 
Meeting House, from Job xxxvii. : 2, 3, 4. At the close of the 
service, a house in Market Street, owned by Mr. Richard Pratt, 
was struck by lightning. It descended the chimney, separated 
into three branches, did considerable damage to the house, and 
left Mr. Pratt senseless on the floor for several minutes. 

Within three weeks, ending on the IGth of August, twenty- 
three of the inhabitants of Lynn died. 

On Sunday, the 28th of August, at one o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the hotel on the western part of Nahant, owned by Captain 
Joseph Johnson, took fire and was consumed, with all its con- 
tents. The family were awaked by the oying of a child, which 
was stifling with the smoke, and had just time to escape with 
their lives A black man, who slept in the upper story, saved 
himself by throwing a feather bed from the v/indow, and jump- 
ing upon it. 

On the 8th of September, John Ballard, John Pennerson, and 
his son, went out on a fishing excursion. On the next day, the 
boat came ashore at Nahant, with her sails set, the lines out for 
fishing, and food ready cooked. Nothing more was ever heard 
of the crew ; but as Mr. Pennerson was a Frenchman, and as a 
French vessel had been seen that day in the bay, it was con- 
jectured that they might have been taken on board, and carried 
to France. 



230 



HJSTORY OF LYNN. 



[1804. 



On Thursday, the 22d of September, the Salem Turnpike 
was opened, and began to receive toll. The Lynn hotel was 
built this year. The number of shares in this tarnjiike were 
twelve hundred, and the original cost was $ 189,000. This road 
will become the property of the Commonwealth, when the pro- 
prietors shall have received the whole cost, with twelve per 
cent, interest ; and the bridge over Mystic river, when seventy 
years shall be accomplished. This turnpike, for nearly foar 
miles, passes over a tract of salt marsh, which is frequently cov- 
ered by the tide. When it was tirst projected, many persons 
esteemed it impracticable to build a good road on such a foun- 
dation. One person testified that he had run a pole down to the 
depth of twenty-five feet. Yet this turnpike proves to be one 
of the most excellent roads in America. The post office was 
removed to the west end of the common. 



1804. This year a powder house was built, near High Rock, 
at an expense of one hundred and twenty dollars. 

On the 4th of August, the body of a woman was found in the 
canal, on the north side of the turnpike, a short distance west 
of Saugus bridge. She was ascertained to have been a widow 
Currcl, who was travelling from Boston to Marblehead The 
manner of her death was unknown. 

Ptev. William Frothingham was ordained minister of the third 
parish, now Saugus, on the 26th of September. He continued 
to perform the duties of that office till the year 1817, when he 
was dismissed on his own request. 

One of the greatest storms ever known in New England 
commenced on Tuesday morning, the 9th of October. The 
rain fell fast, accompanied by thunder. At four in the afternoon 
the wind became furious, and continued with unabated energy 
till the next morning. This was probably the severest storm 
after that of August, 1635. The damage occasioned by it was 
very great. Buildings were unroofed, barns, chimnies, and 
fences were blown down, and orchards greatly injured. The 
chimney of the school-house, on the western part of the com- 
mon, fell through the roof, in the night, carrying the bench, at 
which I had been sitting a few hours before, into the cellar. 
Many vessels were ^vrecked, and in several towns the steeples 
of meeting-houses were broken off", and carried to a great dis- 
tance. The number of the trees uprooted in the woodlands was 
beyond calculation. Thousands of the oldest and hardiest sons 
of the forest, which had braved the storms of centuries, were 
prostrated before it, and the woods throughout were strewed 
with the trunks of fallen trees, which were not gathered up for 
many years. Some have supposed that a great storm at an 
early period may have blown down the trees on the marshes, but 
it could not have buried them several feet deep. 



1805.1 HISTORY OF LYNN. 231 



1805. For one hundred and seventy-three years, from the 
building of the first parish meeting-house, the people had annu- 
ally assembled in it, for the transaction of their municipal con- 
cerns. But this year, the members of that parish observing the 
damage which such meetings occasioned to the house, and be- 
lieving that, since the incorporation of other parishes, the town 
had no title in it, refused to have it occupied as a town-house. 
This refusal occasioned much controversy between the town 
and parish, and committees were appointed by both parties to 
accomplish an adjustment. An engagement was partially made 
for the occupation of the house, on the payment of twenty-eight 
dollars annually ; but the town refused to sanction the agree- 
ment, and the meetings were removed to the Methodist meet- 
ing-house, on the eastern part of the common. 

The Lynn Academy was opened on the 5th of April, under 
the care of Mr. William Ballard. A bell was presented to this 
institution by Col. James Kobinson. 

An earthquake happened on the Gth of April, at fifteen min- 
utes after two, in the afternotm. 

On the 1 1th of May, Mr. John Legree Johnson's house, on the 
east end of the common, was struck by lightning. 

A society of Free Masons was constituted on the 10th of 
June, by the name of Mount Carmel Lodge. 

On the 24th of July, Mr. Charles Adams fell from the rocks 
at Nipper Stage, on Nahant, and was drowned. 

1806. A total eclipse of the sun happened on Monday, the 
16th of June. It commenced a few minutes after ten in the 
forenoon, and continued about two hours and a half The sun 
rose clear, and the morning was uncommonly pleasant. As the 
eclipse advanced, the air became damp and cool, like the ap- 
proach of evening. The birds at first flew about in astonish- 
ment, and then retired to their roosts, and the stars appeared. 
The shadow of the moon was seen travelling across the earth 
from west to east ; and at the moment when the last direct ray 
of the sun was intercepted, all things around appeared to waver, 
as if the earth was falling from its orbit. Several persons 
fainted, and many were observed to take hold of the objects 
near them for support. The motion of the spheres was distinct- 
ly perceptible, and the whole system appeared to be disordered. 
It seemed as if the central orb of light and animation was about 
to be forever extinguished, and creation was returning to its 
original nonentity. The most unreflecting mind was made sensi- 
ble of its dependence," and the soul involuntarily sought the pro- 
tection of its Maker. The total darkness endured about three 
minutes. When the sun came forth from his obscurity, it was 



232 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1807. 

with overwhelming histre ; the dreadful silence which had spread 
its dominion over the universe, was broken ; the cocks began to 
crow, the birds renewed their songs, and man and nature seemed 
to rejoice, as if returning to existence, from which they had been 
shut out by the unwonted darkness. 

The anniversary of American Independence was this year 
publicly celebrated in Lynn, for the first time. As the spirit of 
party was exercising its unabated influence, the inhabitants 
could not unite in performing the honors of the day, and made 
two processions. The Federalists assembled at the First Con- 
gregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered by 
Mr. Hosea Hildreth, preceptor of the academy ; and the Demo- 
crats met at the First Methodist meeting-house, where an oration 
was pronounced by Dr. Peter G. Robbins. The Democrats 
dined at the hotel, and the Federahsts in the hall of the academy. 

And such reg-ard for Freedom there was shown, 
That either party wished her ail their own I 

1807. The town, having determined that no person who 
was not an inhabitant should have the privilege of taking any 
sand, shells, or sea manure from the Lynn beaches, this year 
prosecuted several of the inhabitants of Danvers, for trespassing 
against this order. The decision of the court established the 
right of the town to pass such a vote, and left it in legal posses- 
sion of all the natural treasures which the sea might cast upon 
its sliores. 

The depression of commerce and manufactures, at the close 
of this year, was very great. This was principally occasioned 
by the state of affairs in Europe, and the spoliation of property 
in American vessels, by the governments of France and Eng- 
land, which, in the prosecution of their hostilities, had made 
decrees affecting neutral powers. On the twenty-second of 
December, Congress passed an act of embargo, by which all the 
ports of the United States were closed against the clearance of 
all vessels. 

1808. The enforcement of the embargo law occasioned 
great suffering throughout the Union, particularly in commercial 
places. The harbors were filled with dismantled vessels, which 
lay rotting at the wharves. Thousands of seamen were thrown 
out of employment, the price of provisions was enhanced, and 
the spirit of desolation seemed to be spreading her dark wings 
over the land. While the Democrats were disposed to regard 
this state of things as requisite to preserve the dignity of the 
nation and the energy of government, the Federalists viewed 
it as an impolitic, unjust, and arbitrary measure, by which the 



I 



1808.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 233 

interests of commerce were sacrificed to the will of party. The 
spirit of opposition, in this diflcrence of opinion, was put forth 
in its utmost strength. At the election in April, the greatest 
number of votes was produced which had at that time been 
given in the town ; of which 418 were for James Sullivan, and 
273 for Christopher Gore. On the second of May, the people 
assembled for the choice of representatives. The Democratic 
party voted to choose three, and the Federalists were inclined 
to send none. As there was some difficulty in ascertaining the 
vote, it was determined that the people should go out of the 
house, and arrange themselves on difierent sides of the common, 
to be counted. The Democrats went out, but a part of the 
Federalists remained, and took possession of the house. They 
chose a town clerk, to whom the oath of office was administered, 
voted to send no representative, and made a record of their pro- 
ceeding in the town book. The other party then returned, and 
chose three representatives. Several of the principal Federal- 
ists were afterward prosecuted for their infringement of a legal 
town meeting ; but as it appeared on examination, that none of 
the town meetings had been legal for many years, because not 
called by a warrant, they were exonerated. On the twenty 
ninth of August, a meeting was held to petition the president to 
remove the embargo ; but the town voted that such a proceed- 
ing would be highly improper, and passed several resolutions, 
approving the measures of the administration. On the following 
day, the Federalists prepared a memorial, expressing their dis- 
approbation of the embargo, and requesting its repeal, which 
was transmitted to the President. The feelings of both parties 
were raised to a degree of excitement, which could only be sus- 
tained by political events of unusual occurrence. 

On the twentieth of September, the house of widow Jerusha 
Williams, in Market Street, was struck by lightning. On the 
same afternoon, the lightning fell on a flock of sheep at Nahant, 
which were gathered beside a wall for shelter, and killed 
eighteen of them. 

On the night of Monday, October thirty-first, IMr. Theophilus 
Breed's barn, on the south side of the common, was burned ; 
and on the night of the following Thursday, a barn belonging to 
Mr. Jacob Chase, on the opposite side of the common, was con- 
sumed ; both of them having been set on fire by a mischievous 
boy. 

A company of Artillery was incorporated by the General 
Court, on the eighteenth of November, and two brass field pieces 
allowed them. 

This year Benjamin Merrill, Esq., came into town. He was 
the first lawyer at Lynn. 
30 



234 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1809. 



1809. The inhabitants petitioned the General Court for an 
act to estabUsh the proceeduigs of the town in their previous 
meetings, which had been illegal, in consequence of the meet- 
ings having been called by a notice from the Selectmen, instead 
of a warrant to a constable. A resolve confirming the proceed- 
ings of the town was passed by the Court on the eighteenth of 
February. 

The embargo law was repealed by Congress, on the twelfth 
of April, and an act of non-intercourse with France and England, 
substituted in its place. 

1810. The fourth of July was celebrated by both political 
parties, who very patriotically and cordially united for that pur- 
pose. They formed a procession at the Lynn hotel, which was 
then kept by Mr. Ebenezer Lewis, and proceeded to the First 
Congregational meeting-house, where an oration was delivered 
by Dr. Peter G. Robbins. 

This year the Lynn Mineral Spring Hotel was built. 

On the twenty-fifth of August, Mr. David Dunn was drowned 
from a gondola, in Saugus river. 

On Friday evening, November ninth, there was an earth- 
quake. 

1811. On the eighth of January, Ayer Williams Marsh, aged 
five years, was killed by the falling of an anvil, from a cheese 
press. 

A great snow storm commenced on the second of February, 
and continued three days. It was piled up in reefs, in some 
places more than fifteen feet. In Market street, arches were 
dug beneath it, high enough for carriages to pass through. 

On the fourth of July, the officers of Lynn, Marblehead, and 
Danvers, had a military celebration at Lynn. The young Fed- 
eralists also partook of a dinner in the hall of Lewis's hotel, 
which was tastefully decorated for the occasion, by the young 
ladies. 

The seventh of July was excessively hot. The thermometer 
rose to 101 degrees in the shade. Mr. John Jacobs, aged 70 
years, while laboring on the salt marsh, fell dead in consequence 
of the heat. 

On the seventh of August, George, a black man, aged twenty 
years, a servant at the hotel, was drowned, while bathing in the 
fatal river Saugus. 

A splendid comet was visible on the eleventh of October, 
between Arcturus and Lyra. Its train was estimated to be forty 
millions of miles in length. It remained visible for several 
mouths. 



1 



1812.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 235 

The Second Methodist Society was formed in the eastern 
part of the tov/n, by separation from the first. A meeting house 
was built, which was dedicated on the twenty seventh of J\o- 
vember. Their first minister was Ptev. Epaphras Kibbey. 

1812. On the fourth of May there was a snow storm, all day 
and night. The snow was about eight inches deep. 

War was declared by Congress, against England, on the 
eighteenth of June. This was called the War of Impressments, 
because England claimed the right to search American vessels 
for her sailors. The contiict was chiefly conducted by battle 
ships on the water, but people were much aflected by it in the 
depression of commerce. The Federalists disapproved of the 
war — the Democrats exulted in it. 

A new meeting house was built by the First Methodist Soci- 
ety, at the east end of the Common. The burial ground in 
Union street was opened. 

1813. Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher discontinued his con- 
nection with the First Parish. The people gave him a recom- 
mendation, and made him a present of eight hundred dollars. 
He was a son of Pwev. Peter Thacher, minister of Brattle Street 
Church, in Boston. He graduated in 1790, was ordained in 
1794, preached nineteen years, and removed to Cambridge Port. 
He wrote many good sermons, six of which, on interesting occa- 
sions, he published. 

1. A Sermon on the Annual Thanksgiving, 1794. 

2. A Sermon on the Interment of Eight Seamen, 1795. 

3. A Eulogy on the Death of Washington, 1800. 

4. A Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Ann Carnes, 1800. 

5. A Masonic Address, delivered at Cambridge. 

6. A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Shory and Wife, 1603. 

At the town meeting in March, thirty nine tythingmen were 
chosen. This was for the purpose of enforcing the Sunday 
Law, that no person should journey on the sabbath. 

The schooner Industry was fitted out as a privateer, imder 
the command of Capt. Joseph Mudge, and sent in three prizes. 

On the first of June, the people of Lynn were called forth by 
an occasion of unusual interest. The English frigate Shannon, 
Capt. Brock, being expressly fitted for the purpose, approached 
the harbor of Boston, and challenged the American frigate, 
Chesapeake, to battle. The hills and the house tops were 
crowded with spectators, who looked on with intense solicitude. 
The Chesapeake, commanded by Capt. James Lawrence, sailed 
out beyond Nahant, and engaged with her adversary. After a 
short and spirited conflict, Capt. Lawrence fell, the colors of the 
Chesapeake were lowered, and the Shannon, with her prize, 
departed for Halifax. 



236 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1813. 

The new Methodist meeting-house was dedicated on the 
third of June. 

Rev. Isaac Hurd was ordained Pastor of the First Parish, on 
the fifteenth of September. 

This year many raccoons, driven by the war from the north, 
were shot at Swampscot ; and a wild-cat, after a desperate 
resistance, was killed at Red Rock. 

The celebrated Mary Pitcher, a professed fortune-teller, died 
April 9, 1813, aged 75 years. Her grand-father, John Dimond, 
lived at Marblehead, and for many years exercised the same 
pretensions. Her father, Capt. John Dimond, was master of a 
vessel from that place, and was living in 1770. Mary Dimond 
was born in the year 1738. She was connected with some of 
the best families in Essex county, and, with the exception of 
her extraordinary pretensions, there was nothing disreputable in 
her life or character. She was of the medium height and 
size for a woman, with a good form and agreeable manners. 
Her head, phrenologically considered, was somewhat capacious ; 
her forehead broad and full, her hair dark brown, her nose 
inclining to long, and her face pale and thin. There was 
nothing gross or sensual in her appearance — her countenance 
was rather intellectual ; and she had that contour of face and 
expression, which, without being positively beautiful, is, nev- 
ertheless, decidedly interesting — a thoughtful, pensive, and 
sometimes down-cast look, almost approaching to melancholy — 
an eye, when it looked at you, of calm and keen penetration — 
and an expression of intelligent discernment, half mingled with 
a glance of shrewdness. She took a poor man for a husband, 
and then adopted what she doubtless thought the harmless 
employment of fortune-telling, in order to support her children. 
In this she was probably more successful than she herself had 
anticipated ; and she became celebrated, not only throughout 
America, but throughout the world, for her skill. There was no 
port on either continent, where floated the flag of an American 
ship, that had not heard the fame of Moll Pitcher. To her 
came the rich and the poor — the wise and the ignorant — the 
accomplished and the vulgar — the timid and the brave. The 
ignorant sailor, who believed in the omens and dreams of super- 
stition, and the intelligent merchant, whose ships were freighted 
for distant lands, alike sought her dwelling ; and many a vessel 
has been deserted by its crew, and waited idly at the wharves 
for weeks, in consequence of her unlucky predictions. Many 
persons came from places far remote, to consult her on affairs of 
love, or loss of property ; or to obtain her surmises respecting 
the vicissitudes of their future fortune. Every youth, who was 
not assured of the reciprocal affection of his fair one, and every 
maid who was desirous of anticipating the hour of her highest 



1813.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 237 

felicity, repaired at evening to her humble dwelling, which stood 
on what was then a lonely road, near the foot of High Rock, 
with the single dwelling of Dr. Henry Burchsted nearly oppo- 
site ; over whose gateway were the two bones of a great whale, 
disposed in the form of a gothic arch. There, in her unpretend- 
ing mansion, for more than fifty years, did she answer the 
inquiries of the simple rustic from the wilds of New Hampshire, 
and the wealthy noble from Europe ; and, doubtless, her predic- 
tions have had an influence in shaping the fortunes of thousands. 
She was, indeed, one of the most wonderful women of any age ; 
and had she lived in the days of alleged witchcraft, would 
doubtless have been the first to suffer. That she acquired her 
intelligence by intercourse with evil spirits, it would now be 
preposterous to assert — and it requires a very great stretch of 
credulity to believe that she ariived at so many correct conclu- 
sions, merely by guess-work. That she made no pretension to 
any thing supernatural, is evident from her own admission, when 
some one offered her a large sum, if she would tell him what 
ticket in the lottery would draw the highest prize ? ' Do you 
think,' said she, 'if I knew, I should not buy it myself?' Sev- 
eral of the best authenticated anecdotes which are related of 
her, seem to imply that she possessed, in some degree, the fac- 
ulty which is now termed clairvoyance. Indeed, there seems to 
be no other conclusion, unless we suppose that persons of gen- 
eral veracity have told us absolute falsehoods. The possession 
of this faculty, with her keen perception and shrewd judgment, 
in connexion with the ordinary arts which she is admitted to 
have used, to detect the character and business of her visitors, 
will perhaps account for all that is extraordinary in her intelli- 
gence. In so many thousand instances also, of the exercise of 
her faculty, there is certainly no need of calling in supernatural 
aid to account for her sometimes judging right; and these 
favorable instances were certain to be related to her advantage, 
and insured her abundance of credibility. She married Robert 
Pitcher, a shoemaker, on the second of October. 17G0. Had 
she married diflerently, as she might have done, she would have 
adorned a brighter and happier station in life, and the world 
would never have heard of her fame. She had one son, John, 
and three daughters, Rebecca, Ruth, and Lydia, who married 
respectably; and some of her descendants are among the pret- 
tiest young ladies of Lynn. Nor is there any reason why they 
should blush at the mention of their ancestress. While it is 
hoped that no one, in this enlightened age, will follow her pro- 
fession, it must be admitted that she had virtues which many 
might practice with advantage. She supported her family by 
her skill, and she was benevolent in her disposition. She has 
been known to rise before sunrise, walk two miles to a mill. 



238 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1814. 

purchase a quantity of meal, and carry it to a poor widow, who 
would otherwise have had no breakfast for her children. 

1814. The district of Lynntield, which was separated from 
Lynn on the third of July, 1782, was this year incorporated as a 
town, on the twenty-eighth of February. On the same day, the 
Lynn Mechanics' Bank was incorporated, with a capital of one 
hundred thousand dollars. The Town-house, on the Common, 
was begun the same month. 

A company of mihtia, consisting of seventy-eight men from 
Essex county, was detached, in July, for the defence of the 
sea-coast. Of this number, Lynn furnished fifteen, and the 
whole were placed under the command of Capt. Samuel Mudge, 
of this town. On the first of August, they mustered at Danvers, 
and on the next day marched to Salem, and encamped on Win- 
ter Island. On the twenty-seventh, a violent storm blew down 
most of the tents, and on the next day the detachment removed 
to Fort Lee. On the night of the twenty-eighth of September, 
a great alarm was occasioned by some men who were drawing 
a seine at Beverly. Alarm guns were fired about midnight, 
and in less than thirty minutes the Salem regiment was drawn 
up for orders. Nearly sixty old men of that town also took their 
arms, went directly to the fort, and patriotically offered their 
services to Captain Mudge. The alarm spread to the neighbor- 
ing towns, and within an hour the Lynn regiment was in arms, 
and on its march toward Salem. The promptitude with which 
these two regiments were formed, the self-possession mani- 
fested by the ofiicers and soldiers, and the readiness with which 
they marched toward what was then confidently believed to be 
a scene of action and danger, is worthy of commendation. The 
company was discharged on the first of November. During a 
considerable part of this season, guards were stationed in Lynn, 
on Long Wharf and Saugus Bridge. The town, with its accus- 
tomed liberality, allowed to each of its soldiers, who went into 
service, thirty dollars, in addition to the pay of the government, 
which was only eight dollars a month. The town received 100 
muskets from the State, and 100 old men volunteered to use 
them. 

In a jrreat snow-storm, on the night of November nineteenth, 
Mr Ward Hartwell, of Claremont, N. H. perished in attempting 
to pass Lynn Beach, to Nahant. 

An earthquake happened on the twenty-eighth of November, 
at twenty minutes past seven, in the evening. 

1815. The Second Parish of Lynn was incorporated on the 
seventeenth of February, as a separate Town, by the name of 
Saugus. On the same day, a treaty of peace with England, 



I 



181G.] HiSTony of lynn. 239 

which was signed at Ghent on the twenty-fourth of December 
preceding, was ratified by Congress. 

This year the First Baptist Church in Lynn was organized, 
on the seventeenth of March. In May, the meeting-house 
which the Methodist society had vacated, was purchased for 
their use. It is worthy of remark, that this building was placed 
upon land purchased of the first Congregational Church — that 
very church which had prosecuted the Baptists, and delivered 
them up to the executioner, 164 years before. 

A very great storm, on the twenty-third of September, occa- 
sioned much damage. The wind blew violently from the south- 
east, and buildings, fences, and trees, fell before it. A part of 
the roof of the Academy was taken off, and carried by the wind 
more than half-way across the Common. The spray of the 
ocean was borne far upon the land, and the fruit on trees sev- 
eral miles from the shore, was impregnated with salt. 

1816. The Baptist society was incorporated on the fifteenth 
of April ; and on the fifteenth of September, Rev. George 
Phippen was settled, as their first minister. 

Rev. Isaac Ilurd relinquished his pastoral care over the First 
Congregational Society, on the twenty-second of May. He 
was born at Charlestown, and removed to Exeter. 

In November, new bells were placed on the First Congrega- 
tional, and the First Methodist meeting-houses. 

1817. Friday, the fourteenth of February, was an exceed- 
ing cold day. The thermometer was eighteen degrees below 
zero. There was an earthquake on Sunday, September sev- 
enth; and another on the fifth of October. This year, Hon. 
Thomas H. Perkins built the first stone cottage on Nahant. 
President Monroe passed through Lynn. 

1818. On Friday, January thirteenth, the thermometer was 
eleven degrees below zero. 

Rev. Otis Rockwood was ordained pastor of the First Con- 
gregational Church on the first of July. 

A stone building, for a school-house and library, was built at 
Nahant, and several hundred volumes presented to it, by gen- 
tlemen from Boston. 

The First Social Library at Lynn was incorporated. 

1819. The winter was unusually mild, with little snow, and 
the harbor scarcely frozen. Farmers ploughed in every month ; 
January was like A[)ril, and the spring was forward and warm. 

The first attempt to form an Episcopal Church in Lynn, was 
made this year. A few persons were organized as a church on 



240 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



1820. 



1 



the twenty- seventh of January, and continued to worship in the 
Academy about four years. 

On the thirty-first of January, Jonathan Mansfield was 
drowned in the Flax Pond. On the sixth of April, William 
Phillips was drowned in the Pines River. On the fourth of 
September, Asa Gowdy was drowned near the mouth of Saugus 
river. 

Tuesday, July sixth, was an exceeding warm day. The 
thermometer rose to 120 degrees. 

A farm of about fifty acres was purchased by the Town, and 
a new Poor-house built on Willis's Hill. 

This year the Nahant Hotel was built, by Hon. Thomas H. 
Perkins and Hon. Edward H. Robbins, at an expense of about 
sixty thousand dollars. 

That singular marine animal, called the Sea Serpent, first 
made his appearance in the waters of Lynn, this year. It was 
alleged that it had been seen in August, 1817 and 1818, in 
Gloucester harbor. On the thirteenth and fourteenth days of 
August this year, many hundred persons were collected on Lynn 
Beach, by a report that it was to be seen. Many depositions 
have been taken of its subsequent appearance. It was repre- 
sented to have been from fifty to seventy feet in length, as large as 
a barrel, moving swiftly, sometimes with its head several feet 
above the tide. I have never seen such an animal, but perhaps 
it exists ; and it may be one of the mighty existing relics of a 
buried world. In 1638, Dr. John Josselyn tells us of 'A Sea 
Serpent or Snake, that lay quoiled up, like a cable, upon a Rock 
at Cape Ann. A boat passing by, with English aboard and 
two Indians, they would have shot the serpent, but the Indians 
disswaded them, saying that if he were not killed outright, they 
would be all in danger of their lives.' 

1820. On the fourteenth of February two barns, belonging 
to Mr. Joseph Breed, in Summer street, were burnt by the care- 
lessness of a boy. The people, by a subscription, built him a 
good barn immediately, which they stocked with hay. 

1821. On the twenty-fifth of January the themometer was 
17 degrees below zero. 

Rev. Joseph Mottey died on the ninth of July. He was born 
at Salem, May 14, 1756, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1778. 
He was ordained over the second parish, now Lynnfield, Sep- 
tember 24, 1780. He was characterized by extreme sensibility, 
and fondness for retirement. His manners were affable, and his 
mode of preaching mild and pursuasive. He married Elizabeth 
Moody, and had four children ; Charles, Elias, Charles Edward, 
and Eliza. 



1822.1 HISTORY OF LYNN. 241 



1822. A considerable disturbance was this year occasioned 
in the meetings of Friends, in consequence of a portion of that 
society having embraced different views. On Sunday, the sev- 
enteenth of February, one of these essayed to go into the min- 
isters' gallery, with a sword by his side, which he said was an 
emblem of the warlike disposition of those against whom he 
wished to bear testimony ; but before he had reached the seat, 
he was stopped, and the sword taken away. In the afternoon 
the disturbance was renewed, by several persons attempting to 
enter the high seats ; and many people having assembled about 
the house, the deputy sheriff was called from the first parish 
meeting-house, who read the riot act in the street. Four per- 
sons were apprehended, and after a trial, the next day, before a 
justice, were committed to prison, at Salem, where they remained 
until the time of their trial, at Ipswich, on the sixteenth of March. 
Two of them were then discharged, and the others were fmed. 
A report of this trial was published, with a review in a separate 
pamphlet. 

The first Circulating Library at Lynn was opened this year, 
by the author of this sketch. 

The Second Congregational Society was incorporated on the 
fifteenth of June ; and on the twenty -fifth of November, the 
corner stone of the first Unitarian meeting-house was laid, with 
an address by Rev. Joseph Tuckerraan, of Chelsea. 

As some workmen were this year digging a cellar in Liberty 
street, they found the skeleton of an Indian. It was more than 
six feet in length, and the skull was of an uncommon thickness. 
Two large clam shells were found buried with it. 

1823. The coldest day this year, was the first of March. 
The thermometer was seven degrees below zero. 

The Second Congregational Meeting-house was dedicated on 
the thirtieth of April. Sermon by Rev. Henry Colman. 

On the fifth of May, snow fell, and the ice was one quarter 
of an inch thick. Thermometer 29 at sunrise. 

A young woman named Sarah Soames, aged 19 years, living 
at Thomas Raddin's, went in to bathe in Saugus river, on the 
evening of June 15th, and was drowned. 

1824. The tide, during great storms, had for many years 
been making its encroachments upon Lynn Beach, washing its 
sands over into the harbor, and sometimes making deep chan- 
nels, as it ran across in rivulets. In compliance with a petition 
of the town, the General Court, on the eighteenth of February, 
made a grant of fifteen hundred dollars, to which the town added 
fifteen hundred more ; and bv the aid of this fimd, a fence was 

31 



242 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1825. 

constructed, about half the length of the beach, to prevent the 
encroachments of the tide. 

The thermometer, on the twenty-fifth of February, was ten 
degrees below zero. 

On the sixth of May, the ice was one quarter of an inch thick. 
Thermometer 27 at sunrise. 

John Gilbert Pratt, aged eight years, son of Mr. Micajah C. 
Pratt, was drowned, on the fourteenth of April, from a boat, in 
the harbor. 

On the twenty-first of June, Rev. Joseph Searl was ordained 
pastor of the Congregational society in Lynnfield. He con- 
tinued his connexion with that parish, till the seventeenth of 
September, 1827, when he removed to Sloneham. 

The French General Lafayette, who served in the War of 
Independence, this year came to America, and was received 
with general gratulation and welcome. He passed through 
Lynn on the thirty-first of August. He was received at Saugus 
bridge, on the Turnpike, by an escort, consisting of a battalion 
of cavalry, the Lynn Rifle Company, Lynn Light Infantry, the 
Salem Cadets, and a large number of officers and citizens, by 
whom he was conducted to the Lynn Hotel, where an address 
was delivered to him by Captain John White, to which he 
made an affectionate reply. After being introduced to many 
gentlemen and ladies, with several revolutionary soldiers, he 
ascended an open barouche, and passed through two lines of the 
children of the town, who threw flowers into his carriage as he 
proceeded. A salute of thirteen guns was fired, on his entrance 
into the town ; and another of twenty-four, when he departed. 
On his way he passed through seven beautiful arches, decorated 
with evergreens, flags, and festoons of flowers, and bearing in- 
scriptions in honor of Lafayette and Freedom. Proceeding 
through the principal streets, he was received, at the eastern 
boundary of the town, by another escort, and conducted to 
Marblehead. 

Rev. James Diman Green was ordained pastor of the Second 
Congregational Society, on the third of November. 

1825. For several days in the month of April, the moon 
and stars, with the planet Venus, were visible, for some hours, 
in the middle of the day. There were no clouds, and the sun 
shone with a dim light. 

On the twentieth of April, a piece of land, adjoining the 
Quaker burial ground in Lynn, was purchased, by several indi- 
viduals, and opened as a free burial ground. This was done 
because that society had refused to permit a child to be buried 
in their ground, without a compliance with their regulations. 

This year, Frederic Tudor, Esq., of Boston, built his beautiful 
rustic cottage at Nahant. 



182G.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 243 

On Thursday, the twenty-third of June, at the commencement 
of tvvihght, a remarkable sungush appeared. It proceeded from 
the place of sunsctting, and rose perfectly straight and Avell- 
defined, to the height of twenty degrees. Its color was a beau- 
tiful bright red, and its width equal to that of a broad rainbow ; 
the clouds around were variegated with the finest colors, and 
the pageant continued about fifteen minutes. 

On Saturday, September third, the first newspaper printed 
in Lynn, was published by Mr. Charles Frederic Lumraus, with 
the title of the Lynn Weekly Mirror, edited by Alonzo Lewis. 

A comet was visible in October, on the right of the Pleiades, 
with a train about six degrees in length. 

Hon. William Gray died at Boston, on the third of November, 
aged 75 years. He was born at Lynn, June 27, 1750. His 
father, Mr. Abraham Gray, born January 13, 1715, was one of 
the first shoe manufacturers in Lynn, who employed journey- 
men and apprentices. He received such an education as could 
at that time be obtained in a town school. On his arrival at 
manhood, he entered extensively into the European and East 
India trades, and by his industry, ability, and uncommon success, 
accumulated an amount of property which few individuals in 
America have ever surpassed. His great success in trade gave 
an impulse to the mercantile business of Salem, and the amount 
which he added to the prosperity of that ancient and respectable 
town, occasioned the following epigram : 

' Salem and Lynn for Gray's birth now contest ; 
Lynn gains the palm, but Salem fares the best.' 

After the embargo, Mr. Gray removed to Boston, and in the 
years 1810 and 1811, was elected Lieutenant Governor. His 
sons are among the most respectable lawyers and merchants in 
the city of Boston. 

1826. The coldest day this winter was February fii"st, when 
the thermometer was sixteen degrees below i:ero. 

A schooner, loaded with six hundred bushels of corn, struck 
on a rock off" the mouth of Saugus river, on the twelfth of April, 
and sunk. 

The festival of St. John, June 21, was celebrated at Lynn, by 
Mount Carmel Lodge, and five other lodges. The address 
was delivered by Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport. 

The Lynn Institution for Savings was incorporated on the 
twentieth of June. A Temperance Society was formed on the 
twentieth of December. 

The Quaker meeting house in Boston, with the burial ground 
adjoining, having been long disused, and few or none of the 



244 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1827, 

society remaining in the city, it was thought best to remove the 
bones. The remains of one hundred and nine persons were 
taken up and removed to the Quaker burial ground at Lynn. 
Mr. Joseph Hussey, who had two sisters buried at Boston, was 
unwilhng that they should be removed with the rest, and caused 
their remains, so dear to his memory, to be deposited in the 
cemetery of King's Chapel. 

1827. Micajah Collins, a much respected minister of the 
society of Friends, died on the thirtieth of January, aged 62 
years. He was a son of Enoch and Rebecca Collins, and was 
born April 19, 1764. His father died when he was young, but 
his mother was careful of his education, and he became serious 
at an early age. For nearly thirty years he was a teacher of the 
Friends' school, and was greatly beloved by his pupils. He was 
for about twenty-six years an approved minister, and in that 
capacity made several visits to different parts of the Union. He 
married Hannah Chase, of Salem. He was a good teacher, a 
beloved and virtuous man, and died in the assurance of a blessed 
immortality. 

On the eleventh of April, the First Congregational meeting- 
house was removed from the centre of the Common to the cor- 
ner of Commercial street. Its form was changed, a new steeple 
added, and it was dedicated on the seventeenth of October. 

On the thirtieth of April, Mr. Paul Newhall was drowned 
from a fishing boat, at Swampscot, in attempting to pass within 
Dread Ledge. His body was found uninjured, thirty-nine days 
after ; having, it was said, been caused to rise by heavy thun- 
der, which agitated the water. 

On the night of Thursday, May tenth, a schooner from Kenne- 
bec, loaded with hay and wood, was driven by a storm upon 
Lynn beach, and dismasted. 

The anniversary of Independence was this year celebrated at 
"Woodend. In the procession were thirteen Misses, dressed in 
white, wearing chaplets of roses, representing the thirteen 
original states ; and eleven younger Misses, representing the 
new states. They recited a responsive chorus, written for the 
occasion, and an oration was delivered by the author of this 
history. 

A son of Mr. Ezra Brown, named Edwin, aged twelve years, 
was drowned on the eighth of July, while bathing in the harbor. 

On Tuesday evening, August twenty-eighth, a most beautiful 
pageant was displayed in the heavens. During the first part of 
the evening, the northern lights were uncommonly luminous ; 
and at half past nine, a broad and brilliant arch was formed, 
which spanned the entire heaven, from east to west. No one, 
who did not behold it, can easily imagine its splendor and 
sublimity. 



1328.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 245 

On several evenings in September, the Northern lights were 
exceedingly luminous, sometimes so bright as to cast shadows. 

In the month of November were several great and drifting 
snow storms, and the weather was colder than had been known 
at that season for many years. It was so cold, that it froze a 
large water cistern solid, and burst it. 

1828. On the second of May, a whale was cast ashore at 
Whale Beach, Swampscot, measuring sixty feet in length, and 
twenty-five barrels of oil were extracted from it. 

An oration was delivered, on the fourth of July, by Rev. James 
Diman Green. His connexion with the Second Congregational 
Society, was dissolved, at his request, on the fourth of August. 

Flora, a black woman, died on the first of October, aged one 
hundred and thirteen years. She was born in Africa, and re- 
lated many interesting anecdotes of her country. Her father 
was one of the chiefs, and when he died, they built a house over 
him, as they considered it an indignity to sufTer the rain to fall 
on his grave. One day a party of slave dealers came and set 
fire to their happy and peaceful village. Her mother was unable 
to run so fast as the rest, and as Flora was unwilling to escape 
without her, she remained, and was taken. She had two hus- 
bands and five children in Africa, and three husbands and five 
children in America. She was a sensible and piirely pious 
woman, and was greatly respected. 

In a storm, on the twenty-second of November, a schooner, 
belonging to Freeport, was cast upon the Lobster Rocks. The 
crew, with a lady passenger, immediately left the vessel, which 
was found in the morning, drifted upon Chelsea beach. 

The Lynn Lyceum was established, December twenty-third. 

1829. One of the most beautiful appearances of nature was 
presented on the morning of Saturday, the tenth of January. A 
heavy mist had fallen on the preceding evening, and when the 
sun rose, the whole expanse of hill and plain displayed the most 
enchanting and dazzling prospect of glittering frost. The tall 
and branching trees were bent, by the weight of ice, into grace- 
ful arches, and resembled magnificent chandeliers, glittering 
with burnisiied silver. As far as the eye could reach, all was 
one resplendent surface of polished ice ; and in some places, 
the trees which stood in colonnades, were bent till their tops 
touched together, and formed long arcades of crystal, decorated 
with brilliant pearls, and sparkling with diamonds. But the 
scene in the open village, although so highly beautiful, was far 
exceeded by the magnificent lustre of the woods. The majes- 
tic hemlocks bent their heavy branches to the ground, loaded as 
with a weight of gold, and formed delightful bowers, sparkling 



246 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1829. 

with gems, and illuminated with colored light. The evergreen 
cedars were covered with crystal gold, and glowed with emeralds 
of the deepest green. The silver tops of the graceful birches 
crossed each other, like the gothic arches of some splendid 
temple ; while the slender shafts, and the glittering rocks, re- 
sembled columns, and altars, and thrones ; and the precipitous 
cliffs looked down, like towers and battlements of silver ; and 
far above all, the tall pines glittered in the frosty air, like the 
spires of a thousand cathedrals, overlaid with transparent gold, 
and burnished by the cloudless sun. This beautiful and sur- 
prising exhibition continued undisturbed for two whole days. 
On the third morning, the warm fingers of Aurora found the 
frozen chords which upheld the glittering show. They severed 
at the touch — and from lofty spire and stately elm, came shower- 
ing gems and pearls, that tinkled as they bounded on the crystal 
plain. The ice, which had confined the mighty arms of aged 
forest trees, came crashing down, breaking the frosted shrubs 
beneath, and sending through the woods a mingled sound, like 
falling towers, and the far dash of waters. The admirer of the 
works of nature, who, during the continuance of this beautiful 
scene, was in the majestic woods, will never forget their inde- 
scribable splendor, or doubt the power and skill of Him, who, 
with such slight means as the twilight vapor and the midnight 
mist, can form an arch of fire in heaven, or create an exhibition 
of glory and grandeur on earth, so far surpassing the utmost 
beauty of the works of man. 

In the snow storm, on the sixth of February, a woman perished 
on Farrington's Hill, on the turnpike, one mile eastward of the 
Lynn Hotel. Another great storm commenced on the twentieth, 
when several vessels, belonging to Swampscot, were driven out 
to sea. One of them remained five days, and went on shore at 
Chatham, where the crew were much frozen. 

On the night of the fifth of March, a schooner, loaded with 
cofiee, struck on Shag E-ocks, on the south side of Nahant, and 
was entirely dashed to pieces. No traces of the crew were 
found, and it is probable that they all perished. 

Dr. John Flagg Gardner died at Ipswich, on the fourteenth of 
March, aged thirty-five years. He was a son of Dr. James 
Gardner, of Lynn, and was born May 27, 1794. He graduated 
at Harvard University in 181.3, and after completing his studies 
with his father, and at the medical school in Boston, he settled 
in the practice of medicine at Ipswich. He was esteemed for 
his ability as a physician, and beloved for his disposition as a 
gentleman. 

Great excitement was occasioned this year in Lynn, as it had 
been in many other towns and cities for some years previous, 
on the subject of Freemasonary. On the first of April, Mr. 



1830.] HISTORY OF LYNN, 247 

Jacob Allen, of Braintree, gave an exhibition of some of the 
alleged mysteries of that institution, at Liberty Hall ; and on the 
sixth, the inhabitants, in town meeting, voted, that they regarded 
Freemasonry ' as a great moral evil,' and its existence ' as being 
dangerous to all free governments,' and gave Mr. Allen the use 
of the town hall to continue his exhibitions. 

Mr. Joseph Fuller died on the seventh of November, aged 82 
years. He was a patriotic citizen and a benevolent man. He 
was for several years a selectman, and in 1620 was chosen a 
delegate to amend the state constitution. His son, Hon. Joseph 
Fuller, was born March 29, 1772, and died in 1815, aged 43 
years. He was six times chosen representative, and was elected 
a senator for Essex county in 1812. He was also the first Presi- 
dent of the Lynn Mechanics' Bank, and an associate Judge of 
the Court of Sessions. 

Rev. David Hatch Barlow was ordained minister of the 
Second Congregational Society, on the ninth of December. 

The canker worms, for seven years, have been making great 
ravages among the fruit trees. Many orchards have borne but 
little fruit during that time, and the leaves and blossoms have 
been so thoroughly devoured, that the trees have appeared as if 
scorched by a fire. 

In a very great thunder shower, on the thirtieth of July, a barn 
on Nahant, belonging to Stephen Codman, Esq., was struck by 
lightning, and Mr. William Hogan, a carpenter, was killed. 

In September, a stone beacon, twenty feet in height, was 
erected on the outer cliff of Dread Ledge, by order of the United 
States' government, at an expense of one thousand dollars. It 
was thrown down by a storm, on the thirty-first of October. 

The first complete Map of Lynn was made this year, from a 
particular survey, by Alonzo Lewis. 

1830. The publication of a second newspaper, entitled the 
Lynn Record, was begun, January 23d, by Alonzo Lewis. 

One of the highest tides ever known happened on the 26th 
of March. It rose about five feet higher than common high 
tides, passing entirely over the Long Beach, and making Na- 
hant an island. It also tlowed over the southern part of Market 
street; and, passing up the Mill brook, swept oft" a quantity of 
wood from the house in Bridge street. 

On the 12th of July, Mr. Joseph Blaney, aged fifty-two years, 
went out in a fishing boat from Swampscot, when a shark over- 
set his boat and killed him. 

The meeting house of the Third Methodist Society, built this 
year, in South street, was dedicated on the 3d of August. The 
first minister was Rev. Rufus Spaulding. 

A great tempest of rain and wind, on the 26th of August, oc- 
casioned very great damage to the corn and fruit trees. 



248 IIISTOIIY OF LYNN. [1831. 

On the 4th of September, a boat in the harbor, m which two 
boys were playing, was overset, and Joseph Thomson, aged 15 
years, son of WiUiam Thomson, was drowned. 

Donald MacDonald, a native of Inverness, in Scotland, died 
in the Lynn Almshouse, on the 4th of October, aged 108 years. 
He was in the battle of Quebec, when Wolf fell, and was one 
of the few whom Washington conducted from the forest of 
blood when Braddock was killed by the Indians. 

Vegetation this year was abundant ; English hay was eight 
dollars a ton ; and more apples were gathered than in all the 
seven previous years. 

Another great storm tide, on the 29th of November, came in 
high and furious, doing great damage to the Long Beach, by 
sweeping down the ridge and throwing it into the harbor. 

On Wednesday, December 1st, there were two shocks of an 
earthquake, about eight o'clock in the evening. 

On the morning of the fourth, half an hour after midnight, a 
meteor, exceedingly brilliant, passed south of the moon, which 
was then shining near the meridian. 

The northern lights made an uncommonly rich display on the 
evening of the 11th, assuming the most fanciful forms, changing 
into the appearance of tall spires, towers, arches, and warriors 
armed with long spears. 

1831. Dr. Aaron Lummus died on the 5th of January, 
aged 74 years. He resided in Lynn nearly fifty years, and was 
one of the most popular physicians in the town. He married 
Eunice Coffin in 1786, and had five sons ; Aaron, John, Edward, 
Charles Frederic, and Thomas Jefferson. In 1823 and 1824, he 
was a Senator of Essex county. 

A great storm commenced on the 15th of January, in which 
a schooner, belonging to Stephen Smith, was torn from her 
fastenings at his wharf, and dashed to pieces against the em- 
bankment on Deer island, throwing down about sixty feet of 
the new granite wall, recently built by the United States gov- 
ernment. 

Maria Augusta Fuller, daughter of Hon. Joseph Fuller, died 
on the 1 9th of January, aged 24 years. She was a young lady 
of estimable character, and a poetess of considerable merit. She 
wrote many pieces, both in prose and poetry, with the signature 
of Finella ; and was perhaps the most talented and imaginative 
female which Lynn has produced. 

In August, the sun and the atmosphere, for may days, pre- 
sented a smoky appearance, of a greenish blue color. The same 
phenomenon was noticed by M. Arago, the French astronomer, 
at Paris. On the evening of the 2(itli, the moon rose about fif- 
teen minutes before nine ; and half an hour after, there was a 



1S32.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 249 

shower in the northwest, and on the cloud a perfect and beau- 
tiful lunar rainbow was depicted, of a yellowish color. 

This year the small pox made its appearance in Chestnut 
street, Woodend. Two persons were removed to a little build- 
ing, which had been placed on the woodland road to Blood's 
swamp. One of them, Lydia, wife of Mr. Ephraim Brown, 
died on the 14th of August. Mr. Amos Allen recovered. Rich- 
ard Hasehine, an orphan boy, nine years old, was carried in a 
boat to E-ainsford's island, and returned well. 

Another beacon was erected on Dread Ledge, at Swampscot, 
on the 7th of November, — an obelisk of granite, twenty-five 
feet in height, and three feet square at the base. On the 22d, 
there was a singularly mingled tempest, very violent, for an hour 
in the morning, with rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning, a 
strong east wind, and a high tide. The lightning struck at 
Breed's End, and a vessel was driven ashore on Phillip's Beach, 
and another on Nahant Beach. 

Dr. James Gardner died December 26, aged 69 years. He 
was born at Woburn, in 1762, entered the army of the Rev- 
olution at an early age, and on the return of peace devoted him- 
self to study, and graduated at Harvard in 1788. He came to 
Lynn in 1792, and commenced the practice of medicine. The 
next year he married Susannah, daughter of Dr. John Flagg. 
He was a skilful and popular physician, and possessed the man- 
ners of a gentleman. 

This year, Mr. John Alley enclosed about twenty acres of 
water, by a dam from his wharf to the marsh, thus making a 
pond, on which he built a grist mill, and afterward a fulling mill. 

On the last of December the thermometer was eleven de- 
grees below zero. 

1832. The Lynn Anti- Slavery Society was formed on the 
25th of April. 

Rev. Otis Rock wood was dismissed from the pastoral charge 
of the First Congregational Church, on the 12th of May. Rev. 
David Peabody was ordained pastor of the same church on the 
15th November. 

This year the Tuscan chapel at Nahant was erected, by sub- 
scriptions made by gentlemen of Boston. Religious services 
are performed during the warm and visiting season, by the min- 
isters of Boston, each of whom preaches one Sunday. 

A Whaling Company was formed, and five ships employed ; 
three of which were built at Lynn. They harbored in Saugns 
river; but on the crossing of the rail-road, in 1838, they were 
removed to Boston. 
32 



250 HISTORY OF LYNN. [ 1833. 



1833. On the 16th of January, Mr. David Taylor's store, in 
Ash street, was burnt. 

On the 2d of February, Rev. David H. Barlow relinquished 
the care of the Second Congregational Church; and Rev. Sam- 
uel D. Robbins was ordained pastor of the same church on the 
13th of November. 

On the 14th of February, the new Baptist meeting house on 
the north side of the common was dedicated. 

One of the most remarkable phenomena ever witnessed in 
New England, was a shower of meteors. It commenced soon 
after three o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of 
November, and continued until day. There were many thou- 
sands, Avhich fell in all directions, like flakes of snow. Most of 
them were small, but some of them appeared as large as seven 
stars combined in one. The meteors seemed to proceed chiefly 
from a point about fifteen degrees southeast from the zenith, 
and the display was noticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

1834. On the 28th of May, several persons destroyed the 
curious cave in the Dungeon Rock, under an imagination that 
they might obtain a treasure. They placed a keg of powder in 
the cave, which, on its explosion, blew out the lower portion of 
the rock, causing the great mass above to fall, and thus destroy- 
ing the cavern. This is the third time that curious and won- 
derful caves in Lynn have been destroyed by wantonness. It 
is much to be regretted that this rage for destructiveness caniaot 
cease. Such persons ought to be confined, as destroyers of 
God's beautiful works. 

On the 31st of July, Mr. Durant ascended in a balloon 

from Boston, passed over Nahant, and descended into the water, 
from which, in about fifteen minutes, he was taken up by a 
schooner. 

On the 12th of August, Mr. John Mudge's bam, in Shepard 
street, was burnt by lightning. The Mechanics Bank, in Broad 
street, was built this year. 

1835. On the 22d of April, Rev. David Peabody resigned 
the pastoral charge of the First Congregational Church. 

A comet appeared, in the constellation of Ursa Major, on the 
9th of October, and continued in view about two weeks. 

On the 4th of November, Hezekiah Chase's mill, at the mouth 
of Strawberry brook, was burnt. 

The Christian Church, in Silsbee street, was organized on the 
5th of November ; the first minister was Rev. Philemon R. Rus- 
sell, who preached there about five years. 

On Tuesday evening, November 17, the northern lights were 



1836.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 251 

very lustrous, and presented the singular appearance of a splen- 
did illuminated crown in the zenith. 

On the 10th of December, the First Universalist Meeting 
House, in Union street, was dedicated. The 16th was the 
coldest day of the season, the thermometer being fourteen de- 
grees below zero. On the evening of the 17th, Mr. Ruftis New- 
hall's barn, in Essex street, was burnt. On the 2Sth, Lieutenant 
Robert Mudge, of Lynn, aged 26 years, was killed by the Sem- 
inole Indians, near Withlacoochie, in Florida, three persons only 
escaping in a company of 108. 

1836. This year, the second attempt \v^s made to form an 
Episcopal Church. It was commenced on the 7th of January, 
by three persons, under the name of Christ Church. On the 
fifth of November, a handsome rustic edifice, with diamond 
windows, and four Tuscan columns, was erected on the north 
side of the common. Rev. Milton Ward was the first min- 
ister. 

The Second Universalist Society was organized on the 9th of 
March. They purchased the old meeting house, vacated by the 
First Congregational Society, now standing on the corner of Com- 
mercial street. Their first minister was Rev. Dunbar B. Harris. 

The winter was very long and cold ; snow began on the 23d 
of November, and sleighing continued until the loth of March, 
sixteen weeks. 

Rev. Parsons Cooke was installed pastor of the First Con- 
gregational Church on the 4th of May. 

This year, Henry A. Breed, Esq. built the large brick factory 
on Waterhill, for calico printing and dying. He dug a new pond, 
comprising about an acre, for a reservoir. He also laid out sev- 
eral new streets, and built nearly four hundred convenient cot- 
tages, and other buildings, and a wharf. 

Dr. Richard Haseltine died on the 10th of July. He was 
horn at Concord, N. H, November 2Sth, 1773, married Phebe 
Carter in 1799, and came to Lynn in 1817. 

On the 23d of September, a young man jumped off the preci- 
pice of High Rock, a descent of sixty feet, and, strange to tell, 
walked away uninjured I 

A fire in Front street, on the evening of the 26th of October, 
burnt Mr. Boynton Viall's stable, and the shoe manufactory of 
Isaac B. Cobb, Esq. 

The brig Shamrock, Jortin, of I^oston, with a cargo of sugar 
and molasses, was wrecked on the Long Beach, on the i7th of 
December. 

1837. On the 15th of January, at two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, there was an earthquake. 



252 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1838. 

The new meeting house of the First Congregational Society- 
was dedicated on the 1st of February. 

On the first of June, Mr. William Newhall was drowned, by 
falHng overboard from a sloop, near Nahant. On the 20th, the 
schooner Triton, of Waldoborough, loaded with wood, was 
wrecked on Fishing Point, Swampscot. On the 21st, Lewis A. 
Lauriat ascended in a ballon from Winnisimet, and landed in the 
woods near Lynn Dye House. 

Augustus, son of Israel Perkins, aged fourteen years, was 
drowned on the 1st of July, while bathing in Alley's mill pond, 
near the wharf 

The Fourth of July was celebrated at Lover's Leap, by a 
party of ladies and gentlemen of Lynn, Boston, and Salem, and 
several songs, written by the Lymn Bard, were sung. 

The Episcopal Church, on the north side of the common, was 
consecrated on Thursday, July 20th. Sermon by Bishop Gris- 
wold. 

In August, a survey of Lynn Beach and Harbor was made by 
Alonzo Levi^is, under the direction of Congress ; and a plan 
submitted for the purpose of erecting a sea wall, the whole 
length of the beach, at an expense of $ 37,000 ; but though en- 
couragement was given for a grant, yet none was obtained. 

1838. Charles Frederic Lummus died on the 20th of April, 
aged 37 years. He was the printer and publisher of the Lynn 
Mirror, the first newspaper in Lynn. He was an excellent mu- 
sician, and a choice spirit. Few young men in Lynn were ever 
more extensively beloved, or more deserved to be. But thou 
art dead I ' Alas I poor Yorick I ' Thine is a loss to be thought 
about, and thou shalt long live in our love. 

The ladies of Lynn held a great Fair at the Town Hall on 
the 4th of July, for benevolent purposes. Frances Maria Lewis 
was principal, and nearly $ 500 were obtained. 

The Eastern Ptail-road, from Salem to Boston, passing through 
Lynn, was opened for public travel on the 28th of August. 
Before this time, a few stages had accommodated all the eastern 
travel; but now the number of passengers, to and from Boston, 
so rapidly increased, that for the first three months, the average 
was three hundred and forty-eight persons each day. The com- 
pany for effecting this great and convenient enterprise was in- 
corporated on the 14th of April, 1836. The road has since been 
extended to Portsmouth, at an expense of about $ 2,300,000. It 
was a magnificent project, happily accomplished, and it may be 
regarded not merely as a civil convenience, but as a work of 
great moral influence, tending to break down the barriers of sec- 
tional prejudice, and to promote feelings of benevolence and re- 
finement, by bringing many persons of both sexes into habits of 
social and daily intercourse. 



1839.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 253 

On the twenty-eighth of September, two brakemen, Tyler and 
Baker, who were standing upon the top of a car, were instantly 
killed, by being strnck against the overhead framework of the 
little bridge at Breed's wharf. 

The Lynn Freeman, the third newspaper in Lynn, was com- 
menced on the tenth of November. 

1839. On the twenty-seventh of May died Frances Maria, 
wife of Alonzo Lewis — a woman amiable, talented, virtuous, and 
greatly beloved. Her funeral was attended by perhaps as great 
a number of persons as were ever present at the interment of 
any lady in Lynn, to whom her active benevolence, and her 
worth as a teacher, had greatly endeared her. 

Amid the attention which is given to the various concerns of 
humanity, surely one page may be spared as a tribute to the 
excellence of Woman. In the course of History, the virtues and 
the worth of Man are delineated in all the features of strong and 
admirable portraiture ; but Woman — the inspiration of exist- 
ence, the sonl of humanity, without whom the world would be 
but a resplendent desert, and life itself a burden to its lordly 
and lonely possessor — Woman is overlooked with indifference, 
as if she were not entitled even to a small share in the record 
of human events. When man is consigned to the tomb of his 
fathers, his worth is recorded on monuments of marble, and his 
virtues illuminate the page of history ; but the grave of woman 
is passed in silence and neglect. She who is the mother of 
man, the wife of his bosom, the daughter of his affection — she 
who has shared all his dangers and encouraged his footsteps up 
the steep ascent of fame — she who in the hour of sickness has 
been his comforter, in the day of adversity his support, and in 
the time of trial his guardian angel — generous, virtuous, unas- 
suming woman — is permitted to go to her everlasting sleep, 
with no mention of her name, no record of her virtues. Poetry 
indeed has extolled her, but even poetry has praised her but 
half. It has represented her chiefly as a thing of beauty, an 
object of youthful admiration, a creature of light and fancy, full 
of fascination and the blandishments of love. Poetry and ro- 
mance follow her in the sunny days of youth and beauty ; but 
when the time of her maturity and usefulness arrives, they 
abandon her for other pursuits, and leave her alone to encounter 
the trials, and sickness, and sorrows of home. It is there, in the 
unobserved paths of domestic life, that the value of woman is to 
be estimated. There may be found unwavering faith, untiring 
affection, hope that endures all afllictions, and love that bears all 
trials. There may be found the smile of unfailing friendship, 
mantling over a breaking heart — the unobtrusive tear of sym- 
pathy, falling in the silence of solitude. There may be found a 



254 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1840. 

being, like a spirit from another world, watcliing through the 
long dark hours of night, over the form of manhood, prostrate and 
wasting by slow consuming sickness, and performing all the 
numerous duties, and encountering all the innumerable trials of 
common life, with the enduring patience of years, and with no 
reward but the satisfaction of her own secret heart. Man per- 
forms the public toils of life, and participates the honors of the 
world and the recompense of fame ; but woman, who has formed 
man for his high destiny, and whose virtues and amiable quali- 
ties constitute the refinement of society, has no share in such 
rewards. But history cannot do justice to her merits ; she must 
be satisfied with the living admiration of her excellence on 
earth, and the everlasting remuneration of her virtues in heaven. 

On the seventh of June, Rev. Samuel D. Robbins resigned 
the care of the Second Congregational Church. 

One of the greatest storms for many years commenced on 
Sunday, December fifteenth, and continued three days. It con- 
sisted of snow and rain, and the wind blew a gale, which did 
great damage to the shipping in many places. The schooner 
Catharine, from Philadelphia for Boston, was wrecked on the 
rocks near Bass Point, at Nahant. Two of the crew were in- 
stantly drowned, and another was so injured, by being dashed 
upon the rocks, that he soon died. Captain Nichols and one 
man were saved. At Gloucester, twenty vessels were wrecked, 
and seventeen dead bodies were picked up on the beach. 

1840. On the first of January, Rev. William Gray Swett 
was ordained minister of the Second Congregational Church. 

On the evening of Sunday, October twenty-fifth, a scene of 
terrific grandeur was exhibited. A tempest suddenly rose, in 
which the thunder was exceedingly heavy, so as to shake the 
houses like an earthquake ; and the lightning was intense, mak- 
ing the whole atmosphere, at times, appear as if it were a flame ; 
and in the house, it seemed as if one were enveloped with fire. 
At the same time snow fell and covered the ground. The 
exhibition was singular and awfidly sublime. 

On the eleventh of November, during a storm, the tide rose 
higher than it probably had done since 1815. The wind had 
been easterly for several weeks, and the swell of the waters was 
immense ; passing for several days entirely over the Long 
Beach, so that not only the harbor, but the marshes of Lynn, 
Saugus and Chelsea, were a portion of the mighty sea. There 
'was no safety in approaching near the level shore ; but it was a 
grand and terrible sight, to stand upon Sagamore hill, or some 
other elevation, and view the fearful devastation of the waters. 
Nahant appeared to be severed forever from the main, and 
ocean to be passing the bounds of its ancient decree. 



1811.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 255 

One fact appears evident from recent observation — cither 
the sea is encroaching upon our shores by elevation, or the 
marshes are sinking. There are strong indications, by marks 
upon the rocks, that the ocean once broke against the clifls of 
Sangus ; and on examination of the marshes, we are led to the 
almost irresistible conclusion, that the whole region, now occu- 
pied by them, was once a portion of the sea. By some means, 
not easily explained, these marshes were formed, and covered, 
or filled, with trees. The trunks and stumps of those trees, in 
some places bearing marks of the axe ! are now buried two or 
three feet below the surface of the marsh ! and twice that depth 
beneath the level of high tides I — so that the sea, after having 
been shut out by some great revolution, appears to be returning 
to claim what Avere perhaps its ancient limits. Another proof 
that the waters are gaining upon the land, is the fact, that the 
creeks are much wider now than they formerly were ; and the 
trunk of a pine, which a few years since, projected three feet 
into the river, now projects twenty feet. 

1841. The Lyceum Hall in Market street was built this 
year. During several years the public attention has been much 
excited by the subjects of Phrenology and Mesmerism. Many 
lectures have been given, by professors from Europe and America, 
and many interesting experiments performed, to the satisfaction 
of many ; but some still remain incredulous. The most popu- 
lar lecturer on Mesmerism is Dr. Robert H. Collyer, of London. 

This year, Joseph G. Joy, Esq. built his Log Cabin, at Nahant, 
from a plan by Alonzo Lewis. 

1842. Mr. Enoch Curtin died on the twenty-eighth of May. 
lie was born September 2-5, 1794, and married Susan L'eson. 
He was a man of estimable qualities, and possessed great poet- 
ical talent. He had a very happy faculty for the production of 
odes and songs, adapted to particular occasions. His mind was 
intellectual, refined, and noble, and he w^as widely esteemed and 
beloved. 

The Lynn Natural History Society was formed on the third 
of August. It has been very successful in the collection of in- 
teresting natural curiosities, and promises to become a source of 
great information and utility, as well as of amusement. 

On the seventh of September, a boy from Salem, William 
Henry Ropes, aged 14 years, was killed by the Railroad cars, 
while walking with his father, on the track, near the crossing of 
Burrill street. 

Another great storm happened Friday, the third of December, 
during which a singular phenomenon occurred. It was high 
tide about ten o'clock in the forenoon, and the tide rose nearly 



256 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1643. 

three feet higher than common spring tides. Soon after eleven, 
when the water had ebbed more than a foot, the wind changed, 
and brought the tide in again above two feet; so that vessels 
and timbers, landed by the first tide, were set afloat by the 
second. This is the only instance on record of a double tide, 
since the remarkable one in 1635. 

1843. Dr. Charles O. Barker died on the eighth of January. 
He was born at Andover, March 8, 1802, graduated at Cam- 
bridge in 1822, and married Augusta, daughter of Ptembrandt 
Feale, in 1828. His practice was extensive and successful, and 
he was beloved by all who formed his acquaintance. 

Kev. William Gray Swett, pastor of the Second Congrega- 
tional Church, died on the fifteenth of February. He was born 
in Salem, July 15, 1808, and graduated at Cambridge in 1828. 
He went to Cuba in 1830, for the benefit of his health, where he 
spent upwards of two years. In July, 1836, he was ordained at 
Lexington; and on the first of January, 1840, was installed at Lynn. 
He was a practical preacher, and was greatly beloved by his peo- 
ple. His death was a great loss to his society and to the town ; for 
he was a man of talent, of active benevolence, and of sterling 
worth. He united high classical attainments with a manly piety, 
and knew enough of human nature to mingle Avith all its sym- 
pathies, and partake of all its innocent and social enjoyments. 

In a sudden storm of snow and rain, on the morning of March 
seventeenth, before day break, the schooner Thomas, Captain 
William Sprowl, of Belfast, loaded with wood, was wrecked 
on the southern end of the Long Beach. There were seven 
men on board, five of whom were drowned, by the swamping of 
the long boat, as they were attempting to gain the shore. 

A splendid comet made its appearance this year. It was 
observed on the first of February, in the day time, passed the 
sun on the twenty-sixth of that month, and was in its most favor- 
able position for observation on the night of the eighteenth of 
March. Its train then extended from Zeta in Eridanus, to Eta 
in Lepus — thirty-eight degrees in length. It was very brilliant 
and beautiful. 

The winter was very cold. I crossed the harbor on the sev- 
enteenth of March, and the ice was then strong enough to bear 
a horse. On the fourth of April the snow in many places was 
three feet deep, and on the eighth, a man drove an ox sled, loaded 
with wood, across Spring Pond. On the twentieth of April, the 
ice was still thick on the ponds. There were heavy frosts on 
the first and second of June. 

President John Tyler attended the celebration of the Battle 
of Bunker Hill, on the seventeenth of June; and in that week, 
20,600 people passed over the Eastern Railroad. 



1843.] 



HISTORY OF LYNN. 



257 



Lewis A. Lauriat made an ascent from Winnisimmet on the 
fourth of July, and descended amid thousands of spectators, 
near the Lynn Bard's cottage, at Sagamore Hill. 

This year, Theophilus N. Breed built his factory, for making 
cutlery and shoemaker's tools, on Oak street. 

In August, about twenty of the Penobscot Indians came to 
Lynn, and encamped, some at High Ptock, and others at Nahant. 

Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. was ordained minister of the Second 
Congregational Church, on the eleventh of October. 

For about four years past, it has been noticed, that the Syca- 
more trees have been leafless, decayed, and dying. It is sup- 
posed that their decay has been owing to heavy frosts, blighting 
them, after they had budded early. 

Sagamore Hall, near the Lynn Depot, was burnt in the night 
of the twenty-fifth of November. Loss about $3000. The town 
has been remarkably exempt from losses of this kind — this 
being the only great fire for ten years. 




Canova's Washington. 



33 




CHAPTER XII. 

Shoemaking at Lynn — Tanneries — Morocco Manufactories— Fishery — Tublic 
Buildings and Societies — Climate — Sea Bathing — Census — Cottages at Na- 
hant. 

Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon, 
For such are thrifty, honest men. 

Shakspeare, 

The American foot shall be as celebrated as the Phidiau nose. 

Willis. 

ADIES' SHOES began to be made in Lynn 
at a very early period ; and that business has 
long been the principal occupation of the in- 
habitants. Shoemaking is a very ancient and 
respectable employment, for we read in Homer, 
of princes manufacturing their own shoes. 
They have been made of various materials — 
hides, flax, silk, cloth, wood, iron, silver, and 
gold — and in great variety of shape, plain and ornamental. 
Among the Jews they were made of leather, linen, and wood. 
Soldiers wore them of brass and iron, tied with thongs. To 
put off the shoes was an act of veneration. The Asiatics and 
Egyptians wore shoes made of the bark of papyrus. Among 
the Greeks, the shoe generally reached to the mid leg, like what 
we now call bootees. Ladies, as a mark of distinction, wore 
sandals — a sort of loose shoe, something like a modern slip- 
per. Xenophon relates that the ten thousand Greeks, who 
followed young Cyrus, wanting shoes in their retreat, cov- 
ered their feet with raw hides, which occasioned them great 
injury. The Roman shoes were of two kinds — the calceus, 
which covered the whole foot; and the solea, which covered 
only the sole, and was fastened with thongs. Ladies of rank 
wore white, and sometimes red shoes; other women wore black. 
The shoes of some of the Roman emperors were enriched with 
precious stones. It was generally regarded as a mark of effemi- 
nacy for men to wear shoes. Phocion, Cato, and other noble 
Romans, had no covering for their feet when they appeared in 
public. In the ninth arnd tenih centuries, the greatest jirinces 
of Europe wore wooden shoes, or wooden soles fastened with 
leather thongs. In the eleventh century, the upper part of the 
shoe was made of leather, and the sole of wood. 



1844.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 2o9 

The Saxons wore shoes, or scoh, with thongs. Bede's account 
of Cuthbcrt IS curious. He says : ' When the saint had washed 
the feet of those who came to him, they compelled him to take 
offhis own shoes, that his feet might also be made clean ; lor 
so ItUe did he kttcnd to his bodily appearance, that he often 
kept his shoes, which were of leather, on his feet for several 

months together.'* i . • . * +1,^ Ano-lr. 

In the Dialogues of Elfric, composed to mstruct the Anglo 
Saxon youth in Latin, we find that the shoemaker had a very 
compXnsive trade. ' My craft is very useful and necessary 
to you. I buy hides and skins, and prepare them by my ai 
and make of tLm shoes of various kinds and -one of you can 
winter without my craft.' Among the artic es whic he fabri 
rates he mentions — ancle leathers, shoes, leather hose, budle 
?hJ5s laHSigs, leather bottles, flasks, halters, pouches and 

"^^Inlhe year 1090, in the reign of William Rufus, the great 
dandy Uolert was called the Horned, because he wore shoes 
with Ion- points, stuffed, turned up, and twisted like horns^ 
T ese kind of shoes became fashionable. a.rd the toes continued 
to increase in extent, until, in the time of Richard 11, in loJO 
thev had attained such an enormous extent as to be fastened to 
heVaTter iy a chain of silver or gold. The c^J^Y ^^^^^^^ 
vehemently against this extravagance ; but ^^^ f«:^^^\",^ «^n 
tinned even for several centuries. In the year 146o,the Fai 
ament of England passed an act, prohibiting shoes with pikes 
moTe han two^nches m length, under penalties to -ak^-^and 
wearer- and those who would not comply were declared excom- 
muSe In the year 1555, a company of Cordwamers was 
Toi-po ated in old Boston, England. By then charter, it was 
Sred That no persons shall set up, withm the said borough 
as Coixlwainers, until such time as they ca.a sufficiently cut and 
make a boot or shoe, to be ad udged by the wardens . . . that 
^any foreiVner, or person who did not serve his apprenticeship 
nthlsaul borough, shall be admitted to his freedom he shall 
then pay to the wardens £3 2.. M. . . and that no fellow of 
tins coril^ration, his journeyman or servant, shall work on the 
Sabbath day, either in town or country | 

Shoes m their present form came into use in the Y^^r Goo a 
short time after \he first settlement of this conn ry T le fi s 
shoemakers known at Lynn, --^P^jhp KertlancUnd 1 dnW 
Eridffes both of whom came over m lG3o. llie business grdu 
tX increased with the increase of the inhabitants; and many 

* Bede, Vit. Cu.hhert, p. 243. t Turner's History Anglo Saxons, 3, 111. 

X Thompson's History oi Boston, L.ng. p. ?«. 



260 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844. 

of the farmers, who worked in the fields in tlie summer, made 
shoes in their shops in the winter. The papers relating to the 
Corporation of Shoemakers, mentioned by .Johnson in 1G51, 
are unfortunately lost ; having probably been destroyed by the 
mob in 1765. As the first settlers introduced many of their 
customs from England, the privileges were probably similar to 
those conferred, in 1555, on the Cordwainers of old Boston. 

The terra Cordwainer, as a designation of this craft, has long 
iisurped the place of Ladies' Shoemaker. This word had its 
origin from Cordova, a city in the south of Spain, where a pecu- 
liar kind of leather was manufactured for ladies' shoes. The 
word in the Spanish is Cordoban; in the Portuguese, Cordovam; 
and in the French, Cordouan ; whence the term Cordouaniers, 
or Cordwainers. In the eighth century, the descendants of 
Alaric, in revenge at being passed by in the choice of a king, 
called the Arabians to their aid. They came, and Roderic, the 
last of the Goths, fell in the seven days' battle, at Tarik, in 711. 
In 756, Abderrhaman made himself master of Spain, and estab- 
lished his caliphate at Cordova. During the Arabian power, 
agriculture, commerce, the arts and sciences, flourished in Spain ; 
and in that period, the celebrated Cordova leather was intro- 
duced. It was made of the skins of the goats of Tafilet, since 
denominated Morocco. It was altogether superior to any thing 
which had been previously used for the manufacture of ladies' 
shoes. It was at first colored black, and afterwards red, by the 
use of cochineal. 

At the beginning, women's shoes at Lynn, were made of 
neat's leather, or "woollen cloth ; only they had a nicer pair of 
white silk for the wedding-day ; which were carefully preserved, 
as something too delicate for ordinary use. About the year 
1670, shoes began to be cut with broad straps, for buckles, which 
were worn by women, as well as by men. In 1727, square-toed 
shoes, and buckles for ladies, went out of fashion ; though 
buckles continued to be worn by men till after the revolution. 
The sole-leather was all worked with the flesh-side out. In 
1750, John Adam Dagyr, a Welshman, gave great impulse and 
notoriety to the business, by producing shoes equal to the best 
made in England. From that time the craft continued to flour- 
ish, until it i)ecame the principal business of the town. Fathers, 
sons, journeymen and apprentices, worked together, in a shop 
of one story in height, twelve feet square, with a fire-place in 
one corner, and a cutting-board in another. The finer quality of 
shoes were made with white and russet rands, stichcd very fine, 
with white waxed thread. They were made with very sharp 
toes, and had wooden heels, covered with leather, from half an 
inch to two inches in height; called cross-cut, common, court, 
and Wurtemburgh heels. About the year ISOO, wooden heels 



1841.1 HISTORY OF LYNN. 261 

were discontinued, and leather heels were used instead In 
1783 Mr Ebcnezer Breed introduced the nse of Morocco leather, 
and at the commencement of the present century two ot the 
principal shoe manufacturers, were Mr. Amos Rhodes and Col. 
Sanmel Brimblccom. Lynn is now the principal place m America 
for the production of ladies' shoes. There arc 130 manufacto- 
ries eraplovim? about 3000 workmen, and about as many women 
binders. There are about Three Million Pairs of Shoes annually 
made, valued at nearly Two Million Dollars. 

Many improvements have, within a few years, been intro- 
duced into the manufacture of shoes. Formerly all shoemakers 
sat at their employment, but that was found injurious to the 
health of many. In 1804, Thomas Parker, of England, invented 
the ' Standing Seat,' as it is called, which at first was sold for 
two guineas. Lasts were formerly made by hand, by a very 
slow process; but Mr. Kichard Richards, of Lynn now has a 
machine in operation, impelled by steam, in which lasts, of any 
required pattern, are shaped with great facility. The same gen- 
tleman has recently obtained a patent for a new Sole Cutter, 
which crreatly relieves the labor of the mechanic. 

Many Shoemakers have become eminent. Nilant has a book 
on shoes. Baudoin, a shoemaker, has a learned work on the 
ancient shoe, entitled ' De Solea Veterum.' Hans Sack, a Ger- 
man shoemaker, wrote fifty volumes of prose. Robert Bloom- 
field composed that delightful poem, the Farmers Boy, while at 
work on his bench, and wrote it down when he had finished the 
labor of the day. William GifTord, the editor of the London 
Quarterly Review, and the translator of Juvenal, served his 
apprenticeship with a cordwainer. John Pounds, of Portsmouth, 
while eno-a"-ed in his daily work, contrived to educate some 
hundreds of'lhe neighboring children. In our own country, Roger 
Sherman one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was a shoemaker; and John Greenleaf Whittier left the 
mainifacture of shoes for ladies' feet, to make verses for their 

boudoirs. , , , • . * * 

Poets in all ages have noticed the shoe as an important part 
of the dress, especially of a lady. In the time of Chaucer, the 
vamT)s of ladies' shoes were fashioned in the resemblance of a 
aothic church window. Shakspeare bestows an exquisite com- 
pliment on the manner of dressing the foot, when he says of a 

lady — , ^ 

' Nay — her foot speaks. 

Butler, in his Hudibras, makes the hero of that inimitable poem 
pay his devoirs to his lady-love, in the following terms — 

' Madam ! I do, as is my duty, 
Honor the shadow of your shoe-tie ! ' 



262 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844. 

A certain critic, of more learning than good sense, once under- 
took to bestow an unusual quantity of censure on two of our 
own lines, in the description of a lady's person, 

' But if one grace might more attention suit, 
It was the striking- neatness of her foot.' 

Now we think that every reader of good taste will agree with 
us, at least in admiring the idea which these lines are intended 
to convey. 

Genteel Reader — for I trust I shall have many such — are you 
aware that you are now perhaps trampling the industry of Lynn 
beneath your feet ! How often are we indebted to those of 
whom we think least, for many of our most valuable and salu- 
tary enjoyments. Look at that young lady, who might be taken 
by Brackctt as a model for one of the graces, reclining in an 
easy chair, Avith her foot upon an ottoman. See the dehcate 
shoe which fits as if it were formed by the hand of Apelles ! 
Shakspeare (in his Romeo and Juliet) says — ' I would I were 
a glove upon that hand I ' How often have I wished — ' O, would 
I were a shoe upon tliat foot I ' Perhaps neither she who dis- 
plays that elegant foot, nor the many who admire it, think 
that much of its grace is to be ascribed to some unknown 
individual on the shores of Lynn. Yet there, by the sound 
of the rippling waters, are thousands of men employed in 
manufacturing all manner of outer vestures for the dehcate 
foot, and as many women engaged in binding and trimming 
them. There the village-lace and the ankle-tie have their 
origin — there the belle of the city may suit both her form and 
her taste with the newest and most delicately formed style, either 
for the boudoir or the ball-room, with its classic shape and its 
Parisian title — there the rustic maid may procure the laced buskin 
which shall add a new grace to her modest beauty — and there 
the mother may find the substantial fabric, adapted to domestic 
comfort for her own foot ; or the soft tissue, with its congenial 
trimming of gossamer and gold, for the foot of her loved little 
one. So long as the foot needs to be protected, so long will the 
manufactures of Lynn flourish. 

The tanning of sole leather was commenced in Lynn at an 
early period. In 1630, Francis Ingalls built a tannery at Swamp- 
scot, which was the first in the United States. In 1720, John 
Lewis opened a tannery in Boston street. In 1S20, there were 
six tanneries, but in consequence of the importation of leather 
from Philadelphia and other places, they were all discontinued 
before lS3o. 

In the year ISOO, William Rose introduced the manufacture 
of Morocco leather, in a factory by the brook, on the south side 
of the common. There are now three tanneries and eight man- 
ufactories of Morocco in Lynn. 



ISU.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 263 

The other principal business of the town is the cod and mack- 
erel fishery, which is very productive. There are fifteen schoon- 
ers and about one hundred boats employed m the business at 
Swampscot; and a few boats are also engaged at Ivahant. 
These two places supply Boston, and many country towns with 
fish during the year; and, in summer, many hundred lobsters 
are daily s'ent into the markets. 

There are, in the town, three gristmills, one mill for choco- 
late and spices, an estabhshment for the manufacture of paper 
hangino-s, a dye house, two factories for printing silks and cal- 
icoes, a manufactory of sashes, bhnds, and bedsteads, a planmg 
mill and a manufactory of cutlery and shoemakers tools. 

Lynn has thirteen churches, nine principal school houses, an 
academy, post office, lyceum, bank, two newspapers, (the VV ash- 
fn^S, and Essex County Whig,) an institution for savings, 
two insurance companies, eleven fire engmes, a social and circu- 
lating- library, a natural history society, a temperance society, 
an aiUi-slavery society, two ladies' benevolent societies several 
societies for providing watchers for the sick, ^f.e^n hotel 
There are thi4e military companies; ti^ie Lynn Artillery Lynn 
Light Infantry, and Lynn Mechanics' Fafle Company, — all m a 
2-ood state of discipline. 

^ The climate of Lynn is generally healthy, but the prevalence 
of east winds is a subject of complaint for invalids, especially 
those afflicted with pulmonary disorders. That these winds are 
not generally detrimental to health is evident from the fact tha 
the people of Nahant, surrounded by the sea, and subject to all 
its breeLs, are unusually healthy. From some cause, however 
there are a great number of deaths by consumption, formerly a 
death by this disease was a rare occurrence, and then the inc i- 
vidual was ill for many years, and the ^^^^J^.^ts were usually 
ao-cd persons. In 1727, when a young man died of consump- 
tion at the age of nineteen, it was noticed as a remarkable cir- 
cumstance; but now, young people frequently die of that dis- 
ease after an illness of a few months. Of 316 persons, whose 
deaths were noticed in the First Parish for about twenty years pre- 
vious to 182 1, 1 12 were the subjects of consumption ; and in soine 
years since, more than half the deaths have been occasioned by 
that insidious malady. There is something improper and unnat- 
ural in this. It is doubtless owing to the habits of the people, 
to their confinement in close rooms, over hot stoves, and to heir 
want of exercise, free air, and ablution. It is owmg to then 
violation of some of the great laws of nature To one accus- 
tomed as I have always been, to ramble by the sea shore and 
on the hill top, to breathe the ocean wind and the mountain air, 
this close confinement of the shops would be a living death. 
Were it not for the social intercourse, I would as soon be con- 



2G4 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844. 

fined in a prison cell as in a room twelve feet square, with a hot 
stove, and six or eight persons breathing the heated air over and 
over again, long after it has been rendered unfit to sustain life. If 
mechanics find it convenient to work together in shops, they should 
build them longer and higher, and have them well ventilated. 
The subject of bathing, also, requires more attention. There 
are many people in Lynn, as there are in all other places, who 
never washed themselves all over in their lives, and who would 
as soon think of taking a journey through the air in a balloon as 
of going under water. How they contrive to exist I cannot im- 
agine ; they certainly do not exist in the highest degree of hap- 
piness, if happiness consist in the enjoyment of that free and 
buoyant mind which is nourished by pure air and clean water. 
Some of these water haters, a few years since, made a law, that 
boys should not bathe in sight of any house ; yet they have fur- 
nished no bathing houses ; and there are no secluded places, 
excepting where the lives of children would be endangered. 
Thus they not only refuse to bathe themselves, but prevent the 
young, by a heavy penalty, from enjoying one of the purest 
blessings and highest luxuries of existence. Perhaps nothing 
is more conducive to health than sea bathing. I do not wish 
for a return of the ' olden time,' with all its errors and absurd- 
ities, but I do desire a return to that simplicity which is born of 
purity. 

By the census of 1840, Lynn contained 9,375 inhabitants. It 
is the second town in Essex county, the seventh in Massa- 
chusetts, and the thirty-sixth in the United States. The an- 
nual expenditures of the town are about $18,000, of which 
$6,000 are appropriated for the support of schools. Education 
has received considerable attention, but much remains to be 
done. The roads are good, the houses neat, and the inhabi- 
tants moral and industrious. In respect to the beauty of the 
scenery, and the equality of the people, there are few places 
where a residence is more desirable. The great mass of the 
people are in comfortable pecuniary circumstances. None are 
very rich — few are very poor. Probably there is no town of 
equal population in the world, where the inhabitants are more 
on an equality. They are remarkable for their temperance, and 
much is annually expended in relieving the poor. If the people 
are wanting in aught, it is perhaps in their appreciation of ser- 
vices rendered purely to the public, and not to party or sect. 
The two men who did the most for the manufactures of the town 
died in the poor house. Mr. Whiting, who gave a name to the 
place, has no stone to mark the spot of his interment ; aiid the four 
men who fell at Lexington, boldly battling for freedom, when 
liberty was almost as hopeless as a dream, have no monument to 
their memory. Perhaps there is no greater injustice than that 



1344.]' HISTORY OF LYNN. 265 

men who have employed their ahihties for the benefit of man- 
kind,' and the attahiment of honorable pnrposes, should be 
allowed to slumber in the dust of neglect ; and that those should 
en'^ross every mark of attention and every profitable trust, whose 
hearts never felt a throb of love for their native country, and 
whose deeds leave no inheritance to humanity. 

Perhaps it will be an interesting curiosity to some to mention, 
that the descendants of several old families are still very nu- 
merous. The following are the principal names, with the num- 
ber of legal voters : 

Kewhall, 82 Chase, 31 Mansfield, 21 Moulton, 15 

Breed 6S Phillips, 30 Rhodes, 20 Torbox, •) 

Johnson, 5.5 In^alls, 27 Oliver, H Collins, U 

Alley. 48 Parrott, 26 Bach.ler, 7 Mndge, 3 

Le^^^s, 40 Stone, " 26 Smuh, G PerU.ns, 12 

Brown, 33 Richardson, 21 Hawlces, U Fuller, U 

It would doubtless be gratifying to some of the early settlers, 
if they could return and witness the advancement which the 
town has made in the space of two hundred and fifteen years — 
to see the dark wilderness filled with the abodes of industry and 
happiness; and to behold Nahant, which was then 'the portion 
of foxes,' now annually visited by the best and fairest in the 

Nahant has always been a place of interest to the lovers of 
natural scenery, and has long been visited in the summer 
season by parties of yjleasure, who, when there were no hotels, 
cooked their chowders on the rocks. Few of the numerous 
visitors at Nahant have any idea of the place in its primitive 
simplicity thirty years since, when its advantages were known 
and a[.preciated by a limited number of the inhabitants of the 
city and neighboring towns. Accommodations for visitors were 
then circuniscribed, and food not very abundant. A chicken 
knocked down by a fishing-pole in the morning, and cooked at 
dinner, served to increase the usual meal of fish, and was 
regarded as one of the luxuries of the place. But notwith- 
standiu"- the inconveniences to which visiters were subjected, 
several^'families from Boston passed the whole summer in the 
close quarters of the villa-e. The Hon. Jnmes T. Austin, the late 
William Sullivan, lion. William Minot, Charles Bradbury, Esq., 
Rufus Amory, Esq., and Marshall Prince, were among those who 
early and annually visited the rock-bound peninsula with their 
families. At this time, Nahant did not boast of a house from Bass 
Beach round by East Point to Bass Pvock. The Avhole of the space 
now dotted by luxurious cottages and cultivated soil, was a barren 
waste, covered bv short brown grass, tenanted by grar;shoppers 
and snakes. The straggftf to East Point, Pulpit Bock, and 
34 



266 HISTORY OF LYNN. [1844. 

Swallows' Cave, found his path imperled by stone-walls — 
while the rest of the island, excepting the road through the vil- 
lage, was a terra incognita to all, save the old islanders and a 
few constant visiters. Subsequently, Rouillard opened a house 
in the village, which accommodated the numbers who were 
beginning to appreciate the beauties of the place. At this time, 
no artificial rules of society marred the comfort of the visiters. 
There "w^as no dressing for dinners — no ceremonious calls. No 
belles brought a wardrobe, made up in the latest fashion of the 
day ; and no beaux confined and cramped their limbs with tight 
coats, strapped pants, and high-heeled boots. Visiters shook off 
the restraints of society, and assimilated themselves in some 
degree to the rugged character of the scenery around them. 
Parties were frequently made, and whole days passed by them 
in the Swallows' Cave and on the adjacent rocks — the ladies 
with their sewing and books, while the men amused themselves 
in shooting or fishing, and the children in picking up pebbles and 
shells on the beaches. One of the first improvements made at 
Nahant, was a bathing-house at the southern extremity of Bass 
Beach, built under the direction of James Magee, Esq., whose 
name became associated with most of the early improvements. 
Since the citizens of Boston took Nahant into their patronage, 
its improvement has been rapid, and it now presents the appear- 
ance of a romantic town, sparkling in the ocean waves. 

Among the benefactors of Nahant, no one is deserving of 
higher commendation than Frederic Tudor, Esq., who has built 
one of the most beautiful rustic cottages in the country, and 
has expended many thousand dollars to improve and beautify 
the place, by constructing side-walks, and planting several 
thousands of fruit and ornamental trees, both on his own grounds, 
and in the public walks. He has converted a barren hill into a 
garden, which has produced some of the richest and most deli- 
cious fruits and vegetables that have been presented at the hor- 
ticultural exhibitions. Citizens of Boston who now have rural 
cottages at Nahant for their summer residences, are the fol- 
lowing: 

Hon. Thomas H. Perlcins, Frederic Tudor, Esq., Geo.Crowninshield,Esq. 

'• Edward H. Bobbins, Henry Codman, " Joseph G.Joy, 

" Stephen Codman, John A. Lowell, '• Mrs. John Philhps, 

" William Prescolt, Samuel Hooper, " " firtrdner G. Greene, 

" David Sears, Benj. C. Clark, " " John Hubbard, 

" Benj. W. Crowninshield, John E. Lodg-e, " " Samuel Hammond, 

" Samuel A. Eliot, Thomas G. Gary, " Francis Peabody, Esq. ) 

" Nathaniel P. Russell, John H. Gray, " Salem. ) 

There are three houses on Nahant for the accommodation of 
parties and boarders in the summer season — the Nahaut Hotel, 



1811.] TI I S T O R Y O F t. Y X N . 267 

kept by Mr. Phineas Drew ; the Village Hotel, by Mr. Albert 
Whitney; and the Mansion Hotel, by Mr. Jesse Rice. The 
visiting season usually commences about the first of June, and 
continues four months. During that time, Nahant is thronged 
with visiters from all parts of America, and many from Euroj)e. 
A summer residence at Nahant is regarded as a refined luxury. 
A ramble round the beaches, and among the coves and grottoes, 
is a delightful recreation ; but it shoidd be done thoroughly to 
be truly enjoyed. Those who drive over the middle road, and 
return in an hour, may possibly go away disappointed. Those 
who spend a few days, or a longer time, in examining the curios- 
ities of the place, always express satisfaction and delight. 

The Lynn Mineral Spring is a place of agreeable resort at all 
seasons of the year. It is in a highly .picturesque and romantic 
spot, by the side of an extensive pond, or lake, surrounded by 
hills and wild woodlands. The first while man who selected this 
delightful retreat for his residence, was Caspar Van Crownin- 
shield, Esq., a gentleman from Germany, ancestor of the res- 
pectable family of Crowninshields, of Boston. He built a cottage 
here about the year 1G90, and several of the old apple-trees, 
planted by him, are still standing in the garden. A neat and 
commodious hotel is open here for the accommodation of board- 
ers and visiters, kept by Mr. Otis King. 

In 1836, a new place was found for the admiration of the 
lovers of sea-breezes and rural scenery, at the New Cove, 
Swampscot. In that year, a convenient house was erected by 
Mr. William Fenno, of Boston. It commands a fine view of 
the ocean and Nahant on one side, while on the other the land 
is clothed with the drapery of abundant foliage. It combines the 
advantages of fishing and bathing, with quiet retreat and cooling 
shade, and almost rivals Nahant in its attractions. 

The opportunities for the sportsman are not so frequent nor 
so great as in the early days; still there are occasionally some 
fine chances among the birds. Mr. Ebenezer B. Phillips, of 
Swampscot, has killed forty-seven shags at one shot — that is, 
with a single and a double barrelled gun, fired in succession. 
He also killed, with one gun, twenty-seven black ducks, which 
he sold in Boston for twenty-four dollars. 

The Lynn Hotel, situated on the crossing of several great 
roads, and in the midst of a pleasant neighborhood, forms a con- 
venient and agreeable boarding place. The Saugus Hotel, two 
miles westward, in a thriving village, commands a beautifnl view 
of variegated and picturesque scenery. Five miles northwest 
from the Lynn Depot, is the Lynnfield Hotel, kept by Mr. John 
Andrews. It is a pleasant seclusion from the noise and heat of 
the cities. The verdant forest, and the woodland lake, with its 
romantic island, will be appreciated by every lover of nature. 



263 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



1844. 



The inhabitants of Lynn, during two centuries, will not suffer 
in comparison with any equal number of people, in regard to 
morality and industry. For one hundred and seventy-nine years 
from the first settlement of the town, there was no lawyer in the 
place; and even now, with a population of about ten "thousand, 
it supports only two. Though that profession is respectable, 
still it tells well for the honesty and accommodating disposition 
of the people, that they have conducted so large a portion of their 
affairs Avithout recourse to law. They indulge somewhat too 
much in detraction; and there is, with many, too much fond- 
ness for excitement, and too great a love of change. I doubt if 
there be any more rational and solid piety and virtue among 
those who change tlieir preachers every season, than there Avas 
when the minister remained forty or fifty years, and grew old 
and respected among the affections of his peojjle. ]My own ex- 
perience has taught me that teachers are changed quite too 
often for the benefit of scholars. It would be well, before worthy 
and devoted teachers are censured, that the inquiry be honestly 
made, whether the fault may not be with the children, perhaps 
with yourselves. And if the teacher be censurable, do not rush 
to the ward meeting, and turn him out, without notice ; but in- 
form him of your objections, and give him the opportunity for 
improvement. I never knew any people to suffer for rewarding 
merit; nor was any thing ever lost by candor, honesty, or be- 
nevolence. The s[)irit of improvement is evidently upward and 
onward ; and people are beginning to find out, and to practice 
on the knowledge, that in educating the poor, in relieving the 
needy, and in elevating the miserable, they are consulting their 
own happiness. Truth dwells only in Love. 

In preparing this book, I have endeavored to make it as cor- 
rect as the nature of the case would admit, and in so doing, have 
been fortunate in obtaining the services of a good Overseer, 
Mr. Nathan Sawyer, and a first rate Proof Keader, Mr. George 
P. Oakes, Avho are employed in the establishment Avhere the 
printing was executed. It is not impossible, however, that in 
such a multitude of facts and dates, a few errors may be found ; 
but I have discovered none which are essential. 



PUBLIC OFFICERS. 



REPRESENTATIVES OF LYNN. | 


IGIO to 1653. 






1 


1().34. 


1&34. 


May 14. 


Nathaniel Turner, 
Thomas WjilJs, 


16o5. 






ICdward Tomlins. 


10.50 to 165S. 


1G35. 


March 4 


Katlianiel riirner,. 


10.59. 






Timoihy Tumliiis.., 


UiOO. May 30. 




]\Iay 6. 


Xalhaniel Turner, 
Thrnnas Smith. 


Dec. 19. 




Sept. 2. 


Naihaniel Turner, 


1001. 






Edward Tomlins, 


1002. 






Thomas Slaniey. 


1003. 


1636. 


INIarch 3. 


Katlianiel Turner, 


1004. May 18. 






William Wood. 


August 3 




May 2.5. 


Aallumiel Turner, 


1005 to 1007. 






Daniel Howe. 


1(508. 




Sept. 8. 


Timothy Tomlins, 


1009 to 1073. 






Danifl Howe. 


1074 to 167a 


1637. 


April IS. 


Timothy Tomlins^ 


1079. 






Daniel Ilowe. 


10^0 lo 1083. 


163S. 


March 12 


Timothy Tomlins, 


]t)'^4 to 10S0. 






l-dvvani Howe. 


1087 to 1088. 


1639. 


March 13 


Timothy Tomlins, 
Edward Ilowe. 


1089. 




May 22. 


Timothy Tomlins, 


1090. 






Edward Holyoke. 


1691. 




Sept. 4. 


Edward Tomlins, 
ICdward HolyoUe. 


1692. 


1640. 


May 13. 


Timoihy 'Jomlins, 








Richard Walker. 


1093 to 1090. 




Oct. 7. 


Timothy Tomlins, 


1097. 






Edward Holyoke. 


1098 to 1701. 


1641. 


June 2. 


Edward Holyoke, 


1702. 






Richard \\''alker. 


1703. March 1. 




Oct. 7. 


Edward Holyoke, 


May 13. 






Nichola.s Browne. 


1704. 


1642. 




Edward Holyoke. 


170.5. 


1643. 




Edward Holyoke, 


1706. 






Edward Tomlins. 


1707. 


1614. 




Robert Bridizes, 


1708. 






Edward Tomlins. 


1709. 


1645. 




Robert Bridges. 


1710. 


1646. 




Robt. Bridges, Speaker. 


1711 to 1719. 






Thomas Laighloii. 


1720 to 1721. 


i&n. 




Edward Holyoke. 


1725. 


iG4a 




Thomas Laighton, 


17-2/5 to 1727. 






Edward Holynke 


1723 to 1730. 



Thomas Laighton. 
James Axey. 
John Fuller, 
Thomas Laighton. 
Thomas Laighton. 
Thomas .Marshall. 
Thomas Marshall. 
Thomas Marshall, 
Oliver I'urchis. 
Thomas Laighton. 
None. 

Thomas Marshall. 
Thomas Marshall. 
John Fuller. 
Oliver Purcliis. 
Thomas Marshall. 
Oliver Purclus. 
John Fuller. 
Richard V\'alker. 
Andrew Mansfield. 
Oliver Purclus. 
None. 

Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, 
Capt. Oliver Purchis. 
None. 

John Burrill, Jr. 
John Burrill, Sen., 
Jolin Burrill, Jr 
' But one to serve at a time.' 
John Burrill, Jr. 
John Burrill, Sen. 
John Burrill, Jr. 
John Person. 
John Person. 
Samuel Johnson. 
John Biurill. Jr. uf^ 
Joseph Newhall. ^ 
John Pool. 

Jno. Burrill, Jr, Speaker. 
Samuel .lohnson. 
Jno. Burrill, Jr., Sj^eaier. 
John I'ersou. 
John Burrill, Jr. 
Richard Johnson. 
Ebenezer Burrill.-'^ 
Thomas Cheever. 
Ebenezer BurrilL 



272 



HISTORY OF LYNN 



SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



COLONELS. 

John Mansfield,- •■ 
Ezra Newhall,- • • • 



• 177.J 
•1776 



CAPTAINS. 

Eleazer Lindsey, 
Daniel Galeucia, 
Josepli Slocker. 

LIEUTENANTS. 

Frederic Breed, 
John Balls, 
Harris Chadwell, 
Edward Johnson, Jr. 
John Uplon. 

SERJEANTS. 

John Hart, 
Elienezer Mansfield, 
Henry Rohy, 
Ehenezer Sloclcer, 
Edward Thompson. 

CORPOUALS. 

Abijah Cheever, . 
Josluia Daiilbrlh, 
Michael Drake, 
Wilham Hdl, 
David Newman. 

PRIVATES. 

Ephraim Alley, 
Joseph Alley, 
Nathan Alloy, 
Thomas Atwill, 
William Atvvill, 
Zaehariah Atwill, 
James Bacheller, 
Aaron Bailey, 
John Baker, 
Thomas Barry, 
Abel Belknap, 
Abraham Belknap, 
John Blanchard, 
Benjamin Bowdoin, 
Francis Bowdoin, 
Edward Bo wen, 
Aaron Breed, 
Amos Breed, 
Ephraim Breed, 
Benjamin Brown, 
Jo^luia Bnrnham, 
Alden Bnrnll, 
Ehenezer Bnrrill, 
John Bnrras'e. 
Garland Chamberlain, 
Israel Cheever, 
Thomas CheeVer, 
Thomas Cheever, Jr. 
^.Stephen Coats, 
Nathaniel Gushing, 



Jacob Davis, 
David Dniin, 
Oliver Dnnnell, 
Reuben Dnnnell, 
John Farrini^lon, 
Joseph Harrington, 
Theoi)hilns Farrington, 
Theoi>hilus Farrington, Jr. 
William Farrington, 
.Joseph Felt, 
Charles Florence, 
Thomas Florence, 
William Gill, 
Edward Hallowell, 
Henry Hallowell, 
Samuel Hallowell, 
^Theophilus Hallowell, 
J^benezer Hart, 
Peter Harris, 
Robert Hdl, 
Nathan Hilchings, 
Thomas Hilchings, 
Ezekiel Howard, 
Benjamin Hudson, 
John Hunt, 
Daniel Ingalls, 
Jacob Ingalls, 
.John In;,'alls, 
Joseph Ingalls, 
Edward Ireson, 
John Ireson, 
Benjamin Jacobs, 
John .Jacobs, 
Benjamin James, 
Edward Johnson, 
James Johnson, 
.John Jo!uison, 
Enoch .Tarvis, 
Benjamin Larrabee, 
Caleb Lewis, 
Blaney Lindsey, 
Daniel Lindsey, 
Joseph Lindsey, 
.Joseph Lindsey, Jr. 
Ralph Lindsey, 
Haiph Lindsey, Jr. 
Joseph T^ve, 
Daniel Mansfield, 
Robert Mansfield, 
Samuel Mansfield, 
Thomas Mansfield, 
William Mansfield, 
.Tosiah Martin, 
Benjamin Massey, 
Ezra Monlion, 
Enoch Mnd'je, 
Nathan Mndae, 
Samuel Mudge, 
Timothv Miinroe, 
Allen Newhall, 
Asa Newhall, 
Benjamin Newhall, 



Galley Newhall, 
Calvin Newhall, 
Charles Newhall, 
Daniel A. B, Newhall, 
Ehenezer Newhall, 
Jacob Newhall, 
James Newhall, 
James Newhall, Jr. 
Micajah Newhall, 
Nathan Newhall, 
Thomas Newman, 
Aaron Nourse, 
James Nourse, 
Isaac Orgin, 
Daniel Parrott, 
Marstin Parrott, 
Brinsley Peabody, 
Joseph Peach, 
Richard Pepoon, 
Ehenezer Porter, 
John Proctor, 
Joseph Proclor, Jr. 
.James Ramsdell, 
.lames Ramsdell, Jr. 
Kimball Ramsdell, 
Shadrach Ramsdell, 
Silas Ramsdell, 
William Ramsdell, 
James Rich, 
Ebenezer Richardson, 
Eleazer Richardson, 
Solomon Richardson, 
.Josiah Rhodes, 
.John Rhodes, 
James Robinson, 
Thomas Roby, 
John Simms, 
Enoch Slocker, 
Baxter Tarbox, 
Benjamin Tarbox, 
Nathaniel Tarbox, 
William Tarbo.x, 
David Tufls, 
Edward Tuttle, 
Richard Tuttle, 
Samuel Tuttle,-^ 
Ephraim Twist, 
Samuel ^^'^ait, 
Daniel Watts, 
William Watts, 
.Jesse Whitman, 
.John Willis, 
Daniel Williams, 
Ebenezer Williams, 
.Joseph Williams, 
Henry Young. 16S. 

KILLED AT LEXINGTON. 

Abednego Ramsdell, 
William Flint, 
Thoinas Had ley, 
Daniel Townsend. 



ORDER or THIS HISTORY. 



Chapteb Page 

I. DESCRIPTION OF LYNN AND NAHANT, 19 

II. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS, 986 to 162<S- • • • 39 

III. SETTLEMENT OF LYNN, 1629 to 1631 ■■• • 60 

IV. CHARACTER AND RELIGION, 1632 to 1636- • • • 77 

V. LANDS DIVIDED, 1636 to 1642- • • -100 

VI. IRONWORKS, AT LYNN, 1642 to 1656- •■ -120 

VII. DEXTER CLAIMS NAHANT, 1657 to 16S7. ■ • ■ 144 

VIII. USURPATION OF ANDROS, 16S8 to 1705- ...171 

IX. NAHANT AND WOODLANDS DIVIDED, 1706 to 1764- •■ -ISS 

X. TIME OF THE REVOLUTION, 1705 to 17S3- • • -209 

XI. REPUBLICAN HISTORY, 17S4 to 1644 • • • ■ 222 

XII. SHOEMAKING AT LYNN, 1644 258 



35 



DISTANCES FROM LYNN DEPOT, ETC. 



To Railroad House, 71 

Post Office, 123 

Western Depot, 282 

Lynn Hotel, 1 77 

Lynn Beach, 226 

"Whitney's Hotel, 4 

Nahant Hotel, 4 136 

Swampscot Beach, • 1 256 

Fishing Point, 2 20 

Ocean House, 2 271 

Phillips's Point, 3 58 

Lynn Dye House, ■ 2 70 

Mineral Sprmg Hotel, 2 194 

Saugus Village, 2 220 

Saugus Centre, 3 260 

Lynnfield Hotel, 4 2S0 

Salem, 5 96 

Danvers, 5 so 

Marblehead, ^ 5 184 

Boston, 10 170 

The Common contains 21 acres — its length, • v 239 

Length of Lynn Beach, entire, 2 

Nahant Beach, 170 

Length of Streets, 34 16 

Boundary Line, 33 IIS 



ALONZO LEWIS practices Surveying, Writing and Drawing, and fur- 
nishes Plans for Houses and Cottages. For specimens of his work, he refers 
to the Maps of Lynn and Nahant ; and to Dr. Kittredge's cottage, in Baltimore St., 
Mr. Swectser's collage, in Federal St., and Mr. Joy's log cabin, at Nahant. 



INDEX. 



Page 

Abouselt River, 21, 44 

I Academy, 231, 271 

I Aged People,- -48, 59, G3, 67, 143, 183, 245 

Agriculture, ■ • 55 

Aliawavct, Indian Princess,- - • -50, 51, 52 

Alarms', 5S, 76, 216, 238 

Alley, 110 

Andros, his usurpation, 171 - ISO 

Anecdotes, of John's Peril, 25 ; fever. 30 
Sachem's bride, 4'^ ; man and bear, 73 
woman and wolf, 73 ; beaver skins, 74 
Dexter, 75 ; gunpowder, 71* ; girl, 80 
marriage, !>7 ; courtship, 111, 168 ; Mary 
Bowdwell, 115 ; ministers, 141 ; pi- 
rates. 14() ; apples and cider, 153 ; warn- 
inc: out, 185 ; wit. 205 ; boy, 206 ; rhyme, 
20s : soldiers, 215; Mather Byles, 217 ; 
guessing time, 219 ; Washington, 224. 

Animals, 55 

Animal flower, 35 

Anti-slavery Society, 249 

Appleton, 133, 159, 167 

Architecture, 28, 70 

Artillery, 106, 233, 263 

Assistants, 110,^116, 270 

Bachiler, Rev. S.- • • -78, 79, 81, 87, 93, 106 

Ballad, 71 

Balloon. 250, 252, 257 

Bancroft, Hon. George, 41,note. 

Bank, 238 

Baptists, 112, 119, 122, 130, 1-36, 

153,239,250. 

Barker, Dr. C. O. 2.56 

Barlow, Rev. D. H. 247, 250 

Bathintr, 264 

Beaches, 27, 34, 38, 56, 83, 2.32, 252 

Beacon, 247, 219 

Bear Pond, 29 

Bears, -•■73 

Belles of the Forest, .50 

Birds, 21, 35, 56, 58, 186, 187, 267 

Blacksmith, 90, 118 

Black Will, 27, 51,60, 83 



Boiling Springs, 30 

Boniface Burton, 59, 63 

Boston,- -20, 28, 51 , 52, 53, 69, 74, 81, 85, 66, 
92, 100, 109, 139, 142, 149, 
153, 203, 208, 224, 259, 266. 

Botany, > 35 

Boundary, 20 ^ 

Breed, 25, 63, 103, 106, 1.39, 2.51, 257 ^ 

Breed's End, 63 

Bridges, 21, 24, 29, SO, 109 

Brooks, 84,118 

Brook, Lord, 103, 105 

Burial ground, 2.35, 242, 243 

Burrill, 63, 197, 206 

Bunker Hill, 28, 215 

Canker worms, 247 

Castle Rock, 25, 32 

Cattle, 61, 74, 86, 106, 138, 193, 201 

Caves 22,26 

Census, 264 

Character of first settlers, 77 

Children, first l)orn, 66, 78 

Christmas forbidden, 148 

Church, 77, 219, 239, 2.51, 2-52 

Churches,. ■ -78, 87, 98, 149, 1-55, 224, 239, 
241, 250, 263, 270. 

Clams, - • • 185, 191 

Clay, 23 

Clerk of Writs,- • ■ • 114, 123, 125, 181, 270 

Clifl^s, 21, 24,27 

Climate, 37, 263 

Clovenfoot rock, 29 

Coats, Robert, 155, 173 

Cobbett, Rev. Thomas, - • - -101, 105, 123, 
124, 140, 1.53. 

Cobler, Simple, 129 

Cotfin, Joshua, ,58, note. 

Cold, 36, 71, 106, 118, 186, 201, 

203, 224, 225, 239, 240, 241, 
242, 243, 249, 251, 256, 2.57. 

Collins, 6,89 

Comet, 152, 166, 234, 243, 2.50, 2-56 

Commissioners, 125, 126, 153 



276 



INDEX. 



Cordvvainors, 2.39 260 

Corn, 70, 71, 74, 79, 84, 106, 114, 131, 

132, 138, 139, 159, 1S6, 198, 203. 

Cottages at Nahant, 260 

Councillors, 07O 

Courts, 72, 86, 97, 101, 14S, 149, 152 

Courtship, 4S, 1 11, 132, 133, 16S 

Cromwell, 5j8 91 

Customs, 2] 9 

Curtin, Enoch, 255 

Dag-yr, John Adam, 204 

Dark day, 217 

Dexter, Thomas,- -64, 75, SO, 81, 105, 120 
130, 131, 144, 145, 159. 

Drake, Samuel G. 46, note. 

Dread Ledge, 28 247 249 

Dress, Ladies', 109,' 137 ^ 220 

Drought, 170, 203,' 208 

Drowned, 202, 208, 210, 211, 224, 

225, 226, 227, 230, 231, 234, 

240, 241, 242, 244, 248, 252. 

Dungeon Rock, 145^ 250 

Early Settlers, 60, 62, 77, 78 

Early Voyages, 40 

Earthquakes,- -106, 109, 122, 149, 198 199 

200, 202, 205, 218, 227^ 23l', 

2.34,238,239,248,2.51. 

Eclipse, 231 

Education, 268 170 

Egg Rock , 26, 28, 32 

Embargo, 232 234 

Fair, Ladies', 2-52 

Fairy Queen, 49 

Farmers, 55, 61, 03, 69 

Farrington, 90 139 

Felt, Rev. Jos. B., 53, 'note. 

Fire engines, 1.39 263 

Fires, 6.5, 68, 114, 1.32, 200, 205, '226. 

229,233,240,250,2.51,2.57. 

Fire Flies, 35 

Fish, 35, 82, 83, 84, 109, 1-54 

Fishery, 263 

Fi.-<hing Point, 118 

Flag, 88,167,219 

Flagg, Dr. John, 225 

Floating Bridge, 29 

Flora, 245 

Fo.\es, 186, 198, 204 

Freemasons, 231 243, 246 

Freemen, 70 S7 

Friar of Lynn, 102 

Frosted Trees, 245 

Fuller, 110,247,248 

Furnaces, 26 120 

Gardner, 246, 249 

Geoloffv, ,30-3.5, 255 

<^irls lost, SO, 118, 211 

Gorges, Governor of Nahant, 43 

Graves End, 65 

Gray, William, 24-3 

Green, Rev. James D. 242, 245 I 



Groves, 29 

Grottoes, 23, 26 

Hair, long, 133, 141 

Harbor, 21 

Heat, 234,240 

Heir of Linne, 102 

Henchman, Rev. N. 196, 199, 202, 206 

High Rock, 28, 30, 251 

Hills, ....-28 

Historical Society, 7 

History, 7 17 

Home, 8 13 

Houses, 55, 70, '200 

Humfrey, Hon. John, 86, S8, 97. 101, 

106,112, 114', 11.5. 
Hurd, Rev. Isaac, 236,239 

Independence, 232, 234, 244, 2.52, 257 

Indians, • • -11, 45-58, 72, 74, 76, 79, 100, 

113,119,142,156,157,158,170, 

177, 187, 198, 202, 241, 2.57 

Infantry, 263 

Ingalls, 00, 1.32 

Inhabitants, 60, 62, 69, 103, 107 

110, 121, 133, 204. 

Irene's Grotto, 23 

Iron Works, 25, 65, 120, 123-1.33, 138, 

139, 147, 148, 154, 1-59, 107. 

Jenks,. . . . 121, 130, 1-32, 138, 139, 148, 1.53 

.John's Peril, 25 

Johnson, 90 

Justices of the Peace, 146, 271 

Kertland, 91, 104, 114 

Labor, prices of 70 

Ladies, their dre.sses,- -109, 1.37, 138, 220; 
shoes, 221, 2.58 ; method of waking 
them, 122. 

Ladies' Fair, o,-)0 

Lady Moodey, 11-2, 119, 131 

Lady Humfrey, 115 

Lafayette, 223. 242 

Lakes of Lynn, 19, -29 

Lands divided, 102, 14i). 188 

Lawyers, 233 271 

Lewis,. - • -107, IDS, 109, 175, 182, 190,'l98,' 
200, 201, 215, 216, 218, 247, 2.52, 2.j3.- 

Lexington, 213, 221, 272 

Librarv, 239 241 

Lightning. . . . -204, 206, 228, 231, 233,' 247 

Lincoln, Earl of, II5, 117 

Lobster Rocks, 26 

Log cabin, 2.5.5 

Lover's Leap, 28, .30, 2.52 

Lummus, 249 2.52 

Lyceum, 245, 2.55 

LYNN, its early history. 5; description 
of, 1.^,82,1.37; map, '18, 20; pleasant 
situation, 19; boundaries, 20; Indian 
name, 21 ; geology, .30 ; settled, 60 ; in- 
corporated, 12; deed, 76; health, 84; 



INDEX 



277 



named, 101 ; granted more land, 105"; 

market, 131 ; petitions of, 172, 170, 234; 

churches, 2Gj ; public men, 2G'J. 

Lynntield, 20. lOG, 191, 23s 

Lynn Village, 114, 1-23 

INlanatahqua, Indian, 50, 52 

Map of Lynn, IS, 20, 247 

" of Nahant, IS, 20, 43 

Mar1)lehcad, 4S, 51, 52, 74 

Market, 131 

Marriaa-e, 97, 146 

Marshall, Thomas 91, 106, 146, 14s 

Marshes, 33, 8:3, 255 

Mary's Grotto, 2(') 

Masconomo, 53, 75 

Meadows, 34 

Meetinghouses, -99, 137, 159, 166, 181, 187, 
192, 200, 202, 224, 231, 239, 
241, 244, 249, 250, 251, 252. 

Men lost, 229 

Meteors, 250 

Methodists, 224, 235, 247 

Militia, 73, 75, 79, SO, 81. 87, 100, 123, 

125, 12G, 131, 140, 156, 167, 181, 
202, 206, 216, 234, 2-38, 263, 272. 

Mills, 64, 67, SI, 82, 90, 92, 97, 

118, 130, 139, 249, 263. 

Mills, James, 180 

Mineral Springs, 29, 30, 234, 207 

Mines, 25, 43, 65, 120 

Ministers, 7S, 270 

Mirage, 35, 36 

Moodey, Lady, 112, 119, 131 

Money, coined, 139 ; paper money, 216 ; 

old "tenor, 196, 199. 

Montowampate, 47, 48, 74, 75, 79, 85 

Morocco, 260, 262 

Mother's aflection, 141 

Muniinciuash, 51, 157 

NAHANT, map of, IS, 20; meaning of 
name, 21 ; description of, 21 to 27 ; ge- 
ology, 32 ; temperature, 37 ; storm at, 
3S ; its beauty, 40 ; Smith's descrip- 
tion, 43 ; granted to Kobert Gorges, 
43 ; cattle kept there, 61 ; sheep pas- 
ture, 69; bear killed, 73; Sagamore 
killed, SO ; Wood's description, 82 ; 
woh-es there, 87 ; leased for fishing, 
87 ; rock mine, 125 ; mortgaged, 138 ; 
divided, 144 , claimed by Thomas Dex- 
ter, 1 15 ; anecdote, 153 ; Robert Coats 
an inhabitant, 155 ; claimed by Dexter's 
heirs, 15'.l ; claimed by Edward Ran- 
dolph, 171 ; .Tames Mills an inhabitant, 
180; iron mine, 181; claimed by Daf- 
fern, 185; foxes there, isO ; divided 
again. ISS ; inhabitants, 193 ; houses, 
227, 2:39, 242, 266; sheep killed, 2:33; 
school-house, 239 ; hotel, 2 10 ; man kill- 
ed, 247; chapel. 2!9: improvements, 
265; cottages, 255, 266; hotels, 207; 
Little Nahant, 20, 31. 

Nahanton, Indian, 52 



Nanapashemet, Sachem, 45, 4G 

Natural History Society, 255 

Natural Bridge, •' 24 

Newhall, 66, 78, 104 

New.spapers, 243, 247, 263 

Night arch, 202, 210, 2l3, 244 

Nonupanoliow, 51, 52 

Northern Lights, 194,199, 244, 2.15, 24S, 250 
North Spring, ^ -29 

racket, 203 

Old Families, 265 

Old oak, 86 

Old style, 17 

Olden time, 8, 115, 219 

Old tenor, 196, 199 

Pahpocksit, 52 

Parsons, Rev. Obadiah, 223, 225 

Pasaconaway, 48 

Pea Island, 23 

Peace, 219, 23S 

Peat meadows, 34 

Peabody, Rev. David, 249,250 

Pequod war, 100 

Perkins, 205, 218, 239, 240, 206 

Petagoonaquah, 50, 51 

Peters, Hugh, 87, 88 

Petitions, 125, 16S, l7l, 172, 175, 176 

Phenomena, 30, 37, 248, 250 

Phillips, 118, 135 

Physicians, 166, 271 

Pierpont, Rev. John, jr., 257 

Pirate's glen, 29, 30, 146 

Pitcher, Molly, 236 

Politics, 222, 232 

Pometacom, 156, 157 

Ponds, 29 

Poor house, 240 

Porphyry, 30 

Postmasters, 271 

Post Office, 159, 225 

Potatoes, 194 

Powder house, 202. 2.30 

Poquanum, Sagamore, 51, SO 

Preceptors, 271 

Psalms, 115 

Pulpit Rock, 24, 32 

Pumpkins, 70, 71 

Quakers, 148, 155, 159, ISO, 184, 186, 205, 
241, 243, 244. 

Quanopkonat, 53 

(■i'lanapaug, 157 

Quanapoliit, 157 

Queakussen, 51, 52 

Railroad, 252, 253, 255, 256 

Randolph, claims Nahant, 171 

Reading,. • -20, 109, 114, 123, 139, 146, 159 

K ecords, 103 

Rednap, .Toseph, 67, 87, 104 

Heligion, 77 

Representatives, 86, 181, 269 

Revolutionary War, 213,221, 272 



27S 



INDEX. 






RiQe Company,- • • 2(13 

Koaring- Cavern, 24 

Robbins, Hon. P^dward H., 240, 266 

llobbins, Kev. Samuel D., 250, 254 

Robv, Rev. Joseph, 204, 228 

Kockwood, Rev. Otis, 239, 249 

Rocks, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 2S, 29, 41 

Round Hill, 29 

Sagamores, 27, 46, 61, 74,79, 85, 86, 137, 138 

Sagamore Hill, 28, 47, 68, 69, 146 

Salem,- - - -20, 48, 51, 52, 61, 76, 78, 92, 97, 
100, 114, 124, 153. 

Sassacus, 100 

S.^uGus, 20, 21, SO, 101,1)38 

Saugus River,- ■ -21, 83, 109, 121, 132, 137 

Savage Rock, 41, 42 

Savage, Hon. James, 91, note. 

Schools, 226, 239, 264 

Schoolmasters,- • - -170, 185, 1S7, 191, 192, 
194, 196, 200, 201. 

Scott, Sir Walter, 105 

Scythe, 1.39 

Sea Serpent, 240 

Selectmen, 97, 1.59, 170, 175, 1S2, 204 

Shark, 247 

Shepard, Rev. Jeremiah,- ■ -166, 170, 179, 

.182, 184, 186, 187, 193, 195. 

Ships built, 198, 249 

Shipwrecks, - -66, 74, SO, 146, 193, 201, 206, 

209, 210, 225, 226, 227, 243, 

244,24-5,246,251,2.52. 

Shoes and Shoemakers,- -S9, 91, 138, 1S6, 

187, 204, 208, 258 ; tools, 2-57. 

Smiple Cobler, 129 

Slander, 149 

Slaves, 13, 1.5, 217 

Small pox, 197, 249 

Smith, John, .- 42, 67 

Snow,- -85, 106, 118, 192,210, 211, 224, 22S 

Soil, ^-^ ■--.-. 36 

Soldiers of the Revolution,- -213,221,272 

Spouting Horn, 25 

Springs, 29. 30, 65 

Stage, 207 

Stamp act, 209 



Stock: 



• 81 



Storms,- -19, 35, .38, 89, 123. 131, 159, 192, 
199, 201, 210, 228, 230, 234, 235, 2-38, 
239, 241, 245, 240, 248, 2.54, 255, 256. 

Sunrise on the Water, 36 

Swallows' Cave, 22, 23 

SwAMPSCOT, 27, 28, 30, 80, 112, 114, 

lis, 148. 
Swamps, 34 



Tanneries, 61, 1.3<^, 262 Yawata, 

Taverns, 63, 91, 97, 123, 125, 1.52, 215 



• &!, 132, 193, 264 
194,210,211,212 

243 

247 

225, 235 



Taxes, 

Tea, 

Temperance, 

Tempest, 

Thacher, Rev. T. C, 

Tides, .2-17 

Tontoquou, 50 

Tomlin's, 67, 81. 97, 103, 114, 123 

Town Clerks, 10-5, 112, 114, 1-53, 270 

Town House, 238 

Town Records, 5 

Towns settled by Lynn people. Sand- 
wich, 101 ; Lynnfield, Hampton, 106 ; 
Reading, South Reading, North Read- 
ing, Barnstable, Yarmouth, 109 ; South- 
ampton, Flushing, Gravesend, Jamaica, 
Hempstead, Oyster Bay, 114 ; Amherst, 
200; Saugus, 238. 

Townsend, 92, 104, 114 

Treadwell, Rev. .Tohn, 208, 218 

Trees, 20, 33, 35, 89, 245, 247, 2-57 

Tudor, Frederic, 242, 266 

Turner, Nath'L, 67, 69 

Turnpike, 230 

Universalists, 2-51, 271 

War, 6, 46, 100, 1-56, 157, 177, 187, 

205, 213, 226, 23.5. 

Washington, 219, 224, 226, 257 

Webster, Daniel, 97 

Wedding, 48, 138 

Wenepoykin, Sagamore,- -47, 50, 86. 119, 
138, 146, 156, 157. 

Wenuchus, 23, 48, .50, 76 

Whale, 205, 245 

Whaling Company, 249 

Wheat, 152 

Whipping post, 81 

Whippoorwill, 10, 19, 36 

Whiting, Rev. Samuel, -97, 105, 123, 1.50, 
1-53, 1.58, 160. 

Whitefield, Rev. George, 202 

Windmill, 64,97 

Winthrop, Gov.- -62, 74, 117, 118, 121, 123 

Witchcraft, 166, ls2, 23() 

Witter, William,- - • -69, 122, 130, 136, 137 

Wood End, 61, 62 

Woodlands, 102, 188 

Wood, William, 21, 61, 82 

Wolves, 26, 73, 87, 186, 187, 204 

Woman, 109, 212, 220, 2.53 

Wonohaquaham, 47,7.1, 75 

Wuttanoh, 50, 51 

Wuttaqualtinusk, 50, 51 



-23,47,51 



FINIS. 



